Shinra Olympics
by Shinobi Saru Corp
Summary: "LET THE SHINRA WINTER OLYMPICS BEGIN!" President ShinRa
1. Chapter 1

**Written by Tora  
**

* * *

**_PART ONE: SHINRA WINTER OLYMPICS_**

There was an unusual excitement in ShinRa.

There was no right out joy and excitement, but you could tell everyone in ShinRa was excited. The way they talked to one another, the way everyone moved, and the way the younger SOLDIERs couldn't focus properly in the VR room.

The Director of SOLDIER, Lazard, had made a proposal to the President of ShinRa. Lazard had proposed a game. A winter game. ShinRa's winter Olympics.

President ShinRa agreed to it, as long as he didn't have to do the work of setting everything up. That would be Lazard's job to set up everything, to plan, and to think up the games.

The games would definitely need to take place in Midgar, but the games would only be for ShinRa SOLDIERs.

After a couple years of nonstop planning and construction work, Lazard finally told the SOLDIERs about the games. It had been hard for Lazard to keep the big surprise a secret. He couldn't tell anyone about it, and the building of the stadiums had to be done in secret. The people in Midgar had been suspicious and began telling wild theories. Those theories reached the ears of the SOLDIERs and finally to Lazard's ears.

Lazard finally released the news months earlier than intended, because ShinRa was growing wild.

The teams in the Olympics were arranged by colours, not by what country you were from. The colours were the most common colours. Blue, red, yellow, and green. For those who wanted to participate, you were supposed to fill out a form, choose which game you wanted to play, and tell what Class you were in. You didn't even have to be a SOLDIER to join; you could be a Turk or a cadet competing in the games. You had a month to decide if you wanted to join, and then at the end of the month, Lazard would send your team some coaches, the stuff you needed, and the team colour you'd be representing.

It was at the end of the month.

Lazard wanted to play fair. He wasn't going to have Blue Team with all SOLDIERs against the Red Team with all Turks. When he got all the emails in, he would sort them out justly. Each team would have SOLDIERs, Turks, and cadets. When playing the games, the SOLDIERs would NOT play against the Turks or the cadets. They'd be playing against other SOLDIERs.

Lazard sat down at his desk to pour over the emails and organize everything. He muttered a swear word as his eyes scanned over the thousands of emails. He would have to get some help with this. This would take days to sort through.

First, Lazard would have to sort everyone by what rank they were in. Then he would do a count up. Then he would need to assign them their team colour and set them up with coaches. But FIRST… he needed to read all the emails…

_Shiva_, Lazard thought, once more scanning his eyes over the emails. Nahhh, he'd let his secretaries to the dirty work for him.

He put his hands behind his head and leaned back in the chair. Glancing upwards at the ceiling, he wondered if this was the right thing to do. _Too late now, Lazard_, Lazard thought. If he backed away now, he'd have a bunch of angry ShinRa SOLDIERs after him. Not to mention, a lot of work and money was put into this event. No, he would _not_ back away now. Not when he was this close to creating an awesome event that everyone would remember.

He idly watched the rays of light filter into the large room.

Stacks of sorted paper submerged his desk.

Sighing, Lazard decided he'd try reading as much emails as his eyes could take in. Actually, copying each email and make four files out of them might be easier. Or maybe it would be better to print everything out. Lazard groaned as several ideas popped and floated away in his mind. Each idea seemed great at the time, but then it would just get more complicated.

He finally settled on the first idea. Reading as much emails as he could take in. But first he needed to get a pot of coffee and a couple of his secretaries. Maybe a couple psychiatrics too.

It had been about a two weeks.

Lazard was finally done. He went through boxes of Pop-Tarts and pots and pots of coffee, but he and his secretaries finally succeeded in sorting out all the email. All that was left was to write down everyone's colours, what rank they were in, and what sport they were going to play. Then he would print it out and hang it up everywhere. Or maybe he should just send it to everyone over email. That would probably be easier. Not to mention it would save ink and paper. But it was more dramatic with the paper and everyone gawking at what the paper said.

The next day, the papers were out. The list had been printed and been placed all around ShinRa.

Lazard was in his office, drooling a little, his head on the desk. His brain hurt. He wanted to curl up and sleep forever. But he really needed to get working on the overdue papers.

Just then someone banged on the door.

Lazard could tell whoever was banging on the door was mad. Years of experience of angry SOLDIERs had taught the Director what to expect. Smile, agree, then slowly take the idea away from them with a smile. Simple steps.

Lazard quickly sat up and wiped away the drool from his face. He straightened up around the desk and quickly pretended to write on some papers.

"Come in," Lazard said in a businesslike way.

In burst a spikey redhead.

Oh, it was just Reno. Lazard had been expecting an angry First Class. But it was just the highly amusing Turk. Except, Reno wasn't in a very silly mood at the moment.

Reno strode over to Lazard's desk and banged his fist down onto the desk. In his hand was a crumpled up paper of the list of people participating in the games.

Lazard calmly interlaced his fingers and looked soberly at Reno.

"Can I help you?" Lazard asked.

Reno huffed a little (no doubt he ran to Lazard's office). "Firstly!" Reno started. Lazard made a little groaning noise. Great. A list. Lazard _hated _when the people came to him with a list of problems. It could take hours! "I don't want to play hockey with the other Turks!"

Lazard took his own list and looked over it. Reno was on Yellow Team and playing hockey. "What's wrong with playing against other Turks?" Lazard sighed.

Reno dug his nails into the wood. Lazard groaned, "Don't dig your nails into the wood. It's freshly polished."

Reno stopped digging his nails into the wood. He looked up into Lazard's eyes and said seriously, "I want to play against the SOLDIERs in hockey."

Lazard raised an eyebrow. He sat up a little straighter and repeated, "You want to play against the SOLDIERs…" he glanced at the list again. His eyes bugged out a little as he tried reasoning with the spikey redhead. "Reno, Zack Fair and Angeal Hewley are playing hockey. What _idiot_ would go against _them_?!"

"Yes, I know Angeal and Zack are in hockey. I want to go against them," Reno said.

"Why…?" Lazard asked. He made a face. He could envision it. Reno playing against Fair and Hewley. Ouch, it was probably best not to think about it.

Reno frowned hard and said, "Because I'm just as tough as a SOLDIER, that's why."

Lazard had to use all his willpower not to snort. Or laugh. Instead, he frowned back and said, "You're very right, Reno…" _Always favour the person's idea_, Lazard thought to himself. "But it would probably be better if you didn't do it."

"I want to do it!"

_Dang_, Lazard thought. _Too soon_! He should have kept on praising and agreeing with Reno.

Lazard was tired. "_Fine_," He said, throwing his hands up. He didn't want to sweet talk. He just wanted to be left alone! "If you want to get your behind whooped by Fair and Hewley, by all means!"

Reno grinned broadly and pushed up his goggles. "Now, secondly!"

"What?!" Protested Lazard. "Another one?!"

Reno said in a serious voice, "Yes. Secondly, I wish to be put on Red Team."

"What is wrong with Team Yellow?" Lazard demanded.

Reno scratched his nose. "It's a coward's colour. You know, yellowbellied coward?"

Lazard pressed his hands against the brim of his nose. "Good Gaia, Reno… and why do you think Team Red is any better?"

Reno put a hand over his chest and said, "Sir, the colour red is of victory. It's a strong emotional colour! It's a symbol of love and good luck!"

Lazard interrupted in a bored voice, "You're starting to sound like Rhapsodos, Reno…"

"Huh?" Reno paused.

"Fine! If you _really_ want to be on Red Team, find a Turk on Red Team that will switch with you. And don't you _dare_ tell the other people that yellow is a coward colour!" Lazard growled. He irritable made shooing movements, making the Turk realize he wasn't wanted.

Reno cheerfully bounced to the door and left.

"Close the door…!" Lazard's voice trailed off. Reno was obviously too much in a hurry to close the darn door.

Cursing, Lazard stood up and popped his back. He shuffled to the door and closed it.

Lazard slowly shuffled back to the desk and began to look over the papers.

Lazard had a sickening feeling that more ShinRa SOLDIERs would be upset with the positions they were in, and he would be bothered with question and annoying stuff like that.

Thinking it would be wise to send out an email about questioning him over PC instead of bother him in person, Lazard opened the laptop.

He really didn't want to see the laptop again, but he really really didn't want to deal with more face-to-face SOLDIERs. So he quickly ticked and typed out an email about asking him questions through email.

After that, Lazard shoved the laptop aside in disgust. Of course, he would have to check his laptop to look over the emails, but he wouldn't think about that at the moment.

He glanced back at the paper he had been scribbling on. He read it over and wrote a couple things on it and then put it aside. _Whew, ten billion more to go_, Lazard thought as grabbed another stack of papers.

He was on his tenth paper, someone banged on the door.

Lazard glared daggers at the door. _Smile, agree, then slowly take the idea away from them with a smile_, Lazard thought. What an idiot this person was. Couldn't he read his emails before pounding on the Director's door?!

Muttering a cuss word, Lazard called out wearily, "Come in!"

The door opened and a highly effeminate redhead sauntered into the room.

"_Lazard_!" Genesis Rhapsodos shouted angrily.

Lazard smacked his dry lips together and said, "What?"

Genesis pushed back some auburn hair and glared his Mako infused eyes into Lazard's brain. "I don't what that titch on _my_ team!"

"Titch? New word of yours?" Lazard asked lazily.

"It means small person!" Genesis spat back in a very disrespectful manner.

Lazard didn't feeling like teaching this fiery redhead to be respectful at the moment. He also didn't feel like telling Genesis that he himself wasn't near as tall as some of the other SOLDERs in ShinRa. "Your team…?" Lazard said rubbing thumb and index finger together.

"Red Team! Team Genesis! Team Hero! Hero of the Goddess Team!" Shouted Genesis with pride and dignity.

"Uh-huh…" Lazard said. "So that silly 'titch' found someone to switch with, did he?"

"Yes he did! And he told me he was going to play hockey against Angeal and Zack! Darn it!" Genesis pounded his fist on the desk and dug his nails into the well-polished wood.

Lazard made a discouraged face and said, "Please don't dig your nails into my desk, I just had it polished!"

Growling, Genesis took his nails out of the wood. "If that Turk plays, he'll loose and make us look bad!"

"You know, there will be other SOLDIER players on Red Team…" Lazard said, looking down at his nails.

"_So_?! _SO_?!" Retorted the angry redhead.

"So that means their good skills will make up for his bad skills, right?" Lazard said hopefully. The truth was he wasn't sure about it himself. He had a sneaky feeling that Reno would stink SO badly, the teammates would beat him up afterwards or something like that.

"_Uh-huh_," Genesis mimicked, pretending to be Lazard.

"You're doing a terrible imitation of me, Rhapsodos…" Lazard said, glaring at Genesis. "Look, if it makes you feel better…"

Lazard waited for Genesis to stop hopping up and down with excitement.

"I'll make Severin Rolf the hockey captain," Lazard suggested.

"But that First signed up for snowboarding!"

"I'll make him do hockey."

"But he's probably already training for snowboarding!"

"What's your problem? Don't you want him to be the hockey captain? Besides, Rolf probably _just _now saw the list or something."

"I wanted to watch him squash that little chocobo…" Genesis said in disappointment.

Lazard sniffed in an unconcerned manner and said, "Chocobo? Oh, that rascal who's constantly trailing after Fair. I didn't know Strife signed up for snowboarding. Little dare devil."

Genesis crossed his arms and sulked. "Then who will go against that little titch?!"

Lazard rested his chin on his palm and said, "Rhapsodos, you're using the word 'titch' for too many people. Please use their names properly."

"Fine!" Genesis snarled angrily. "Who will go against that Cloud Strife?!"

"You."

"WHAT?! But I sighed up for figure skating!" Genesis protested. He glared at the Director as if he were a madman. But the Director merely gave Genesis a 'you're still here?' look.

"I don't understand!" Wailed Genesis. "Other red people can go against Cloud!"

"But I want you to go against Strife. Besides, working twice as hard is probably good for you…" Then Lazard muttered under his breath, "And good for your character building…"

"Eh?"

Lazard said quickly, "I can understand why that Strife would choose snowboarding. He's not very tall. Now, please leave, your taking up my time."

Mutter cuss words and angry words, Genesis gave Lazard a savage look. Then he walked to the door. Before he left he snapped, "You'd better tell Severin that his position has changed to hockey!"

Genesis slammed the door; Lazard could hear his angry muttering die away. He slumped in his chair. Lazard felt like goofing off and drooling, but he really needed to get going on work…

* * *

General Sephiroth, First Class SOLDIER of ShinRa, glared intently at the paper in his hands.

How could he let himself be talked into this? Heck, how was it that Rhapsodos managed to talk Sephiroth into doing this?

Sephiroth glared at his name.

_Sephiroth-First Class SOLDIER-Speed Skating-Team Blue_

_ Oh Gaia…_ Sephiroth blew out a puff of annoyance and tossed the paper aside.

He wasn't sure how long he was supposed to practice. Or where he'd practice. Well, he assumed he'd be practicing speed racing in the ice rink. He couldn't believe he was doing this. Sephiroth was preparing to look like a fool, in spandex, skating around with his silver hair flying behind him. He cringed. The image was too brutal to think about. All this practice would interfere with his actual work in ShinRa.

At first, Sephiroth put his foot down. There was no way he'd join the Olympics. Then Genesis began talking Sephiroth into. Rhapsodos kept coaxing him and telling him he wouldn't call the Silver General 'Sephy' anymore. There were some other agreements made, but that little booger Rhapsodos still managed to talk Sephiroth into joining the Olympics. _How_?!

_So…_ Sephiroth thought. _Rhapsodos is on Red Team, Angeal's on Green, and I'm on Blue… this will be interesting_…

Sephiroth laced his fingers together and stared thoughtfully at the ticking clock in his office. Could he really do it? Could he really try and succeed in speed racing? He was starting to get curious. If he was dedicated and worked hard, how well could he actually do?

He decided he'd go ask Lazard for some information. If he was to work hard at this, he needed some straight answers.

Sephiroth knocked on Lazard's door. Oddly, Sephiroth could hear loud grinding noises. Then he could hear the Director's voice. "C-come on in…" The Director's voice seemed strained, as if he was doing a lot of work not to blow up.

Sephiroth opened the door to see the Director sitting at his desk, his lips pressed together tightly and his eyes narrowed.

"So," Lazard said nastily. "Those darn emails were for nothing, eh? Or do you not check your emails regularly, Sephiroth?"

Sephiroth glared at the Director and said, "I've come to ask you questions…"

Lazard's eyes rolled in the back of his head as he clawed the air in irritation. "Hurry up!" he said impatiently.

Sephiroth curled his lip a little. "Lazard, how long do we have until the games?"

Lazard thought about it. Then his angry face melted and panic struck him. "Oh Shiva," Lazard muttered. "I didn't plan when the games were supposed to start… hmmm… At the end of the year?"

"It's the beginning of the year…"

"Yes… so that means you'll get about a year to practice. Now off you go. Shoo, hasta la vista, au revoir, auf Wiedersehen!" Lazard made rapid movements with his hands.

Right as Sephiroth was about to leave, Lazard called after him, "Do me a favour General, and tell everyone to check their darn emails more often!"

"Can't you email to tell them to check their emails?" Sephiroth mocked coldly.

Lazard glared at the First. "No, because people like _you_ don't check your emails often enough. What's the point of doing that if they aren't going to check their emails?"

Sephiroth didn't reply, but he slammed the door shut.

* * *

Genesis was sulking.

He usually was sulking. Nothing could tick him more than that little titch of a Turk. How could Lazard let Reno be on the same team as Genesis?! It _had_ to be the _stupidest_ idea anyone could have dreamed up.

Sulking, Genesis rested his chin on a gloved hand. He blew out a puff of air, blowing the strands of red hair away. When that failed, Genesis irritably pushed his hair back and gave a tremendous sigh. Surely someone would hear him sigh and give him comfort.

The only person, who heard the sigh, was Sephiroth. Sephiroth glared at Genesis and snapped, "What's your problem?!"

"Oh _nothing_," Genesis said melodramatically.

Sephiroth knew Genesis wanted to be asked what was wrong with him; he just wanted the person to 'care' for him enough to keep asking what was wrong with him.

So Sephiroth merely sneered and went back to thinking and cleaning his freakishly long sword.

"Well?!" Genesis demanded.

"Well what?" Sephiroth replied.

Genesis said indignantly, "Well aren't you going to ask what's wrong with me?!"

Sephiroth stopped cleaning his sword and turned his head slowly at Genesis. "Why would I want to know about your miserable life?!"

Genesis made began to throw a little temper tantrum. "The fact that my life is miserable means you might show a little respect to me and ask me what's wrong!"

"Good Gaia, Rhapsodos…" Was Sephiroth's cold reply.

So since Sephiroth wasn't asking, Genesis began to dramatically tell about how miserable he was. "Well _firstly_," Genesis started. "Reno was put on Team Genesis—"

"Team… _Genesis_?"

"Look, if you prefer 'Hero of the Goddess', I can call it that, Sephy," Snapped Genesis.

"Don't call me Sephy…"

"Anyway, as I was saying," Genesis gave Sephiroth a 'know-it-all" look and continued. "Reno was put on Hero of the Goddess's Team and he wants to play against Angeal and Zack!"

Sephiroth glanced at the hysterical redhead and said, "Zack's on Team Green?"

Genesis nodded mournfully. "Fair, Hewley, Strife, Avery, Le Fay, Ras—"

"I didn't ask for everyone's name, Rhapsodos," Sephiroth interrupted.

Genesis continued. "To make it worse, it turns out Severin Rolf won't be playing snowboarding!"

"Rolf chose snowboarding?"

Genesis frowned hard and glared ahead of him. "Yes. Strife also chose snowboarding… and I wanted to see him get squished!"

Sephiroth thought about it for a second then said, "Strife isn't a SOLDIER yet. Rolf is a First Class. I thought Lazard wasn't going to have SOLDIERs against cadets?"

Genesis shrugged and ran his hand through his hair. "I dunno. I think Lazard didn't want group of cadets against a group of SOLDIERs. Like hockey for instance, SOLDIERs are only allowed to play against other SOLDIERs. Which brings me to my third point…" Genesis paused and counted his fingers. "Wait, or would it be my second point?"

Sephiroth sighed in disgust and muttered, "Good Gaia…"

Genesis shook his head and said seriously, "I think it's my third point… yes well anyway, hang on… what was I talking about?"

"Hockey?" Sephiroth offered.

Genesis snapped is fingers and nodded. "Yes, Reno is playing hockey against Angeal and Zack. Can you believe that?"

A rare smile slipped across the Silver General's face. "Reno's playing against Angeal and Fair? And wait… you already said that…"

Genesis nodded his head and made groaning noises. "Can you _believe_ Lazard would let Reno play against them?!"

"Hmmm, Andreas is playing hockey…"

Andreas… Andreas… the name didn't sound all that familiar, but no doubt he was some big hulking SOLDIER. "Oh Shiva, Reno doesn't stand a chance…"

"It's his own sorry fault if he ends up dead," Sephiroth mused quietly.

Genesis began to feel a little sorry for the redhead Turk with the wild personality.

Angeal came into the room, closely trailed by Zack Fair.

"Yo," Zack said grinning impishly.

Genesis glared at Zack. He never liked the fact that Zack was bigger and taller than him. He also never liked the fact that Zack was always hyper and silly. He always took the spot light away from Genesis.

Zack plopped down next to Genesis, but Genesis slowly ooched away from the little freak.

"I'm so excited," Zack exclaimed.

Genesis cocked his head to the side and gave Zack a sideways glare.

"Did you hear that Reno is playing hockey against the SOLDIERs?" Angeal asked Genesis and Sephiroth.

Genesis sourly nodded and began to sulk a little.

"I can't believe Chocobo is going to do snowboarding! Sounds dangerous, right?" Zack said, swinging his leg up and down like a little toddler.

Genesis ooched a little farther away from Zack. He hated it when Zack got ants in his pants.

"What's your team called?" Genesis asked Angeal, ignoring the Puppy.

"Whhhat?" Angeal asked.

Zack said impatiently, "Rhapsodos asked what our team is called. Personally, I think our team should be called Team Aerith." Zack blushed a little and began swinging his leg back and forth a little harder.

"What does your girlfriend have to do with the Olympics?" Genesis asked rudely.

Zack replied, "It's a good name right, Gen?"

Angeal smiled at his apprentice and said, "Team Aerith? I think it's sweet."

Zack scratched his head and grinned shyly. "I know, right?!"

"That's a dumb name!" Genesis spat.

Zack looked a little hurt, but Angeal laughed. "And what, the name you choose for your team isn't dumb?! _Hero of the Goddess_!" Angeal chuckled.

Zack giggled and began to resume his bouncy personality. "Whao, Hero of the Goddess!" He said, tasting the words.

Sephiroth did a facepalm and said, "Shiva, if Zack isn't allowed to bring his girlfriend into this, we shouldn't allow you to bring Loveless into this."

Angeal nodded and said, "Sephiroth has a good point."

"Nuuuuuuu!" Protested Genesis. "Loveless _must_ stay!"

"If Loveless stays, can Aerith stay for our team's name?" Asked Zack hopefully.

Just then Cloud appeared and said, "Are we talking about team names?"

Zack glanced up and nodded vigorously. "Green Team is called Team Aerith and Red Team is called Hero of the Goddess."

Cloud wrinkled up his nose and snorted, "Hero of the Goddess?!"

Zack laughed at Cloud's scrunched up face.

"I don't want my team to be named after your girlfriend," Cloud protested.

"Then what do you suggest?" Asked Zack curiously.

Cloud thought about it. Then Zack's face lit up and he said dramatically, "The Chocobo Team…"

"No," Cloud said shortly. "Besides, Yellow Team is Team Chocobo. Nobody cares for Team Yellow. They should be Team Nobody."

Genesis glanced at Sephiroth and said, "Hey, Seph, what's your team's name?"

"Blue Team," Sephiroth replied calmly.

Genesis raised an eyebrow and gave Sephiroth a bored look, "Are you serious? You're so boring."

Sephiroth didn't reply.

"How about… The Silver Dudes!"

"What. The. Heck." Sephiroth said, giving Genesis a weird look.

Genesis shrugged and said, "I know, it's such a fab name, right guys?" Genesis wiggled his eyebrows and gestured for applause.

Angeal glanced at Sephiroth. Would Sephiroth strangle the redhead? Or would he stab him?

"So wouldn't it be better if your team was The Heroes instead of Hero of the Goddess?" Asked Zack curiously.

Genesis waved Zack's comment away and said, "It sounds better Hero of the Goddess, brat."

"I wish Aerith could watch me play hockey," Zack said a little dreamily.

Genesis rolled his eyes and said, "Don't be a doofus, ya weirdo."

"Of course Aerith can watch," Angeal said. "I don't see why she couldn't."

Genesis crossed his arms and said, "Then can I do ice dancing?!"

Angeal rolled his eyes and sighed, "Girls can't join this Olympics. It's only for SOLDIERs and cadets and Turks. Sheesh, all guys, Gen."

Cloud squatted to the floor, since there was no more room on the bench. "So, what's Green Team called?"

Zack replied, "Team Aerith!"

Cloud looked at Angeal. Angeal gave a slight nod at Cloud. Sephiroth stood up silently and began to walk away from the merry gathering.

"Where are you going, Seph?" Angeal called after the Silver SOLDIER.

Sephiroth didn't look back. "Getting in some practice before bedtime."

* * *

Genesis was a First. So that meant he didn't have to take orders… right? _Right_?! Not exactly. His 'coach' was doing little more than 'coaching' him or even 'teaching' him how to figure skate.

This whole set up that Lazard planned, was just too stupid. Genesis was spending four hours, seven days a week learning about figure skating. Not to mention two hours a week learning about snowboarder.

It was dumb and tedious and— "Rhapsodos, are you even listening to me?" His coach asked.

Genesis snapped out of his sulk and said, "Hm?"

Coach Rim gave Genesis an evil eye. "I said are you listening?" Coach Rim banged his clip board against the wall. "If you have any hope of winning this, you'd never pay attention, you arrogant redhead."

Genesis may not have really listened too much of what the coach said, but his ears caught the insult. Arrogant redhead, eh?

Genesis stood up and yawned, "I'm tired of listening to you, you old geezer!"

Coach Rim crossed his arms. "Old geezer, eh? The problem with you First Class is that you think you're on top of the world. You don't want to listen to directions anymore. You just think you're so awesome and powerful."

A devilish grin streaked across Genesis's face. "'Cuz we _are_ on top of the world!" Genesis paused and thought about the other First Class SOLDIERs. "Well, maybe not Sephiroth… maybe Angeal if he were to act cooler…"

Genesis stretched and said, "Mind if I take a break, Rim?"

Coach Rim raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Where are you going?"

Genesis threw up his hands and said in annoyance, "Good Gaia, is it really your biz to know where I go?!"

Coach Rim put his hands up on his head and said, "Yuuup!"

Genesis began to slowly walk to the door. "I'm going to visit the hockey team!"

Before coach Rim could reply, Genesis strutted out of the room and down the long halls.

Most of the ShinRa SOLDIERs were quickly buzzing around, carrying big packs and textbooks about hockey or skiing or some other sport.

Genesis plunged his hands into his pockets and thought about the day's work. He had been learning about figure skating for over a month now. But his stupid coach wouldn't put him on ice until he could recite the basic rules of figure skating by heart. What Genesis _really_ wanted to do was design his figure skating outfit. Butttt stupid coach Rim wouldn't let him do that until he could recite the rules of figure skating.

Mumbling angry words, Genesis walked the streets of Midgar. As he pushed the doors to the hockey rink, a draft of cold air escaped.

_At least they're on ice_, Genesis thought jealously as he watched Hero of the Goddess Team practice.

Genesis watched the team until they had a break. Then Severin Rolf came up and said to Genesis, "Yo."

Severin Rolf may not have been the tallest SOLDIER in ShinRa, in fact, he was shorter than Genesis, but he had the strength of several Mako infused SOLDIERs. His usual spikey dagger like hair was now drenched in sweat and looking more bedraggled than ever.

Severin scratched his spider tattoo. Supposedly the tattoo ink had been mixed with radium and therefore glowed ever so slightly in the dark.

"So are you happy playing hockey, Rolf?" Genesis asked leaning his head on the cool wall.

Severin shrugged and took a deep draft of water. "I don't mind," he said in his almost hoarse voice.

Genesis should have known better not to ask Severin what he liked doing. Severin really had no opinion. If Lazard wanted him to be in the front of a battle, Severin would go without questioning. If Lazard wanted him to play hockey, he'd play hockey without a problem.

"How's that titch doing?" Genesis asked as he looked for Reno.

"Titch?"

"Reno. How's Reno doing?"

Severin glanced at the hockey players and said, "Not bad, not bad. But I'm more worried about when he plays against the other SOLDIERs."

Genesis buried his face in his hands and let out a despairing moan. "Shiva, why can't he play with the other Turks?!"

Severin took another swig of water and said, "Because he thinks he's a SOLDIER…"

"Idiot…" Genesis said. "Please tell me he doesn't want to be the goal keeper…?"

"No, Bronach's got that job," Reassured the First.

The Turk caught Genesis's eye and skated over to Genesis. "Hiya, Gen!" He whammed into the plastic protection wall and fell on his behind.

Genesis rolled his eyes and Severin rubbed his tired eyes.

Reno got back up and waved enthusiastically at Genesis. "How's figure skating going?!"

Genesis turned away from the Turk. He couldn't stand looking at that goofy face. It wasn't a Turk's job to ask how he was fairing! Reno had no biz to ask him how he was doing!

"How _is_ figure skating going, Rhapsodos?" Severin asked curiously.

_Gaia_, Genesis's mind wailed. "Um, not now, I think I'm going to finish up practice."

Genesis began to quickly walk away and Reno shouted, "Yup! That's right! Make our team proud, Gen!"

_Gaia Gaia GAIA_! Genesis's mind screamed. What was _wrong_ with that little nuisance?! Was he _trying_ to make Genesis embarrassed?!

Genesis walked down the cold streets in Midgar and thought of Reno. What a _fool_ Reno was. How could Genesis concentrate if Reno was acting foolish all the time?!

As he walked back to the ice skating rink, he ran into Zack. _Literally_. And of course, it wasn't Zack who fell over, it was Genesis.

Genesis shouted a swear word and said nastily, "Watch where you're going, Fair!"

Zack held out a hand for Genesis, but Genesis swatted the offer away and got up on his own.

"Guess what, Gen! Guess what!"

"What?" Spat Genesis.

Zack grinned and began to bounce up and down. "Aerith is going to watch me play hockey!"

Genesis rolled his eyes so enthusiastically, Zack couldn't have missed it. "That's _thrilling_," Genesis said sarcastically.

"I told her that our team was named after her, but she said it should have been named after me!" Zack said, still beaming.

Genesis didn't care pence for what the stupid Green Team's name was. All he cared was the fact that Reno was going to look _stupid _against Zack Fair and Angeal Hewley.

"Hey, Gen, what's with the long face?" Zack ask, poking Genesis in the stomach.

"Hey!" Genesis snarled. "Don't poke me!"

Zack wisely backed away from the angry shrew. Genesis gave Zack a daring look, but Zack wasn't going to step over the line.

Genesis brushed off the dirt from his behind and pretended that he hadn't just been knocked over by a six foot three giant. "Hem," Genesis cleared his throat. Then he patted Zack on the shoulder and said a posh manner, "It is not I who will be laughed at."

"What do you mean?" Zack asked.

Genesis flicked back some auburn hair and said elegantly, "_My_ team's name isn't going to be laughed at. _Your _team name will be laughed at. C'mon, who names a team after a _girl_?"

"Uh," Zack said, looking up at the blue sky. "Me?"

Genesis frowned and said, "Besides you…"

"Hey, Rhapsodos!" Call a voice.

Genesis turned around to see Cloud Strife charging at him. Making a little squawk, Genesis moved out of the boy's way.

Genesis snorted hard and said, "Good grief, I'm being accosted by a buncha little brat!"

Zack laughed his mischievous almost childish laugh and swatted Genesis on the back. "_Little_?!"

Genesis was totally winded from the swat. "_Don't do that_," Whispered Genesis. "_You're a little brat_!"

Cloud chuckled and said, "Rhapsodos is just jealous that when he was sixteen, he was only five foot seven!"

Genesis snarled, "Five foot seven and _THREE CENTIMETERS_, ya little punk!"

Zack and Cloud roared with laughter. Genesis grabbed Cloud's shirt and snapped, "And I'll have you know, you're only five seven yourself, punk!"

"That means when you were fourteen, you musta been… five foot three or something like that!" Laughed Cloud.

Genesis let go of the cadet and sniffed the air attentively. "S-something is on fire…"

Cloud sniffed the air too. "Smells like… burning hair."

Genesis frantically patted his hair. Nope. It wasn't his hair that was on fire. Then Genesis looked at Cloud's head. His eyes widened the size of saucers. "Oh Shiva…" Muttered Genesis.

Then Genesis glanced at Zack, who had a guilty look on his face. He was hiding something behind his back. Cloud sniffed the air. "Hey… is—WHAT IN SHIVA'S NAME?! HELP, HELP, HELP!" Screamed the cadet wildly. He was about run around, but Genesis quickly grabbed Cloud's arm and dragged him into the tall dry winter grass.

"Quick! Dunk your head into the ground!" Genesis said, shoving Cloud's head into the dry grass.

Genesis may have been trying to put out the fire… but he tried putting it out in a panic, by dunking Cloud's head into the dry grass. The field of grass was on fire within seconds. The fire danced and licked at the grass hungrily. The flames wrapped themselves around the twigs and blades of grass and consumed it.

Genesis and Cloud stared at the fire, unable to move. But Cloud quickly grabbed at his head and patted the flames out on his head. Now they just needed to put the fire out in the field…

The first thing Cloud and Genesis did was heroically run screaming away in the opposite direction.

The fire was put out shortly after Genesis and Cloud made their brave exit from the fire.

Cloud and Genesis angrily turned to Zack and yelled in his face. "JUST WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING, YOU IDIOT?!" Genesis shouted his face red with anger.

"THOUGHT IT WOULD BE FUNNY TO CATCH MY HAIR ON FIRE?!" Cloud said, balling up his fists.

Zack slowly produced what he had been hiding behind his back. It was a cigarette lighter. Zack grinned sheepishly and said, "I found it on the ground and wondered if it still worked!"

"_Jerk_!" Cloud said, crossing his arms and turning sharply away from Zack.

Angeal came up and said, "What's going on?"

Zack didn't say anything, but his face was pale and his lips were pressed tightly together.

Cloud pointed a finger at the Puppy and said, "Zack caught my hair on fire by playing with a cigarette lighter."

Angeal glanced at Zack and raised an eyebrow. "True or false?"

"True…" The Puppy said in a small voice.

Angeal's arm shot out and grabbed Zack's ear. Then Angeal began to tow Zack with him. "You, sir, are coming with me…" Angeal said in a weary voice. Zack squealed in pain and had to bend down low.

Cloud ran his hands through his chocobo like hair and said, "I hope my hair isn't _too_ burnt…"

"Wouldn't it be… _hilarious _if Sephiroth was the torchbearer for the Olympics and his hair caught on fire?!" Genesis mused to himself, a smile growing on his face.

"No…" Cloud said slowly. "I think it would be funny if _your_ hair caught on fire!"

Genesis looked offended and tried to aim a punch at Cloud. "How dare you!" Genesis shouted angrily.

Cloud ran off, cackling madly.

* * *

Genesis was finally on ice.

Tears poured down Genesis's eyes, as he smiled triumphantly at the ice. Unfortunately, the tears weren't tears of joy, but tears of pain. Right as he walked out onto tice, he fell on his behind and made a loud cracking noise. Coach Rim assured the redhead that he didn't break his tailbone, but Genesis wasn't convinced.

Genesis wobbled around on the ice rink a little and his smile broadened.

"Now try and skate a little!" Shouted coach Rim.

Genesis took a deep breath. It would be like rollerblading, right? Maybe not… Genesis flew into the air and fell face down.

Genesis tried to scramble upwards, but all he succeeded to do was the splits.

"Get up _slowly_, moron!" Coach Rim said, watching Genesis carefully.

Genesis slowly got up and resumed to wobble around again.

There were several other SOLDIERs ice skating around, but they seemed to enjoy watching Genesis skate than skating themselves.

A SOLDIER called out, "Hey, Rhaps! Why don't you pick up your feet a little?!"

Genesis without thinking Genesis lifted his left foot up. Then his right foot began to wobble and he fell on his face again.

The SOLDIERs roared with laughter.

Genesis angrily got up, digging his sharp blades into the ice. His lip was curled and his hair in his eyes. He stomped over to the SOLDIER who had tricked him and was about to give him the ol' one two, but coach Rim called out, "Rhapsodos, leave Marus alone!"

Glaring death threats, Genesis skated away from the Second Class SOLDIER.

Coach Rim pulled out a list of papers and began his long sermon on ice skating history.

Genesis would drool, but he had nothing to put his head on and drool.

All Genesis could hear from the old man was, "Wawawawa wa-waaawaaa-waaaaa."

Genesis rested his head on his hand and said interrupted rudely, "Are we done yet?!"

Coach Rim stopped reading and glared at Genesis. Was this insolent brat interrupting? Coach Rim put down the papers and said quietly, "Rhapsodos, perhaps you do better in… action…" A glint shone in coach Rim's eyes. It is obvious you are active wish not to be bothered with silly reading."

Genesis nodded vigorously and said proudly, "Exactly."

Coach Rim smiled.

Genesis was a little taken aback. Beforehand, he hadn't really enjoyed listening to Rim read, but he had been making noises to get on coach Rim's nerves.

Coach Rim put down his papers and picked up a pair of skates. "Just let me put these on first, and I'll teach you on ice."

Genesis had a sickening feeling. He probably should have put up with the old man's reading. Now he was going to suffer by actually ice skating! He could try and worm out of it, but he didn't want to look like a coward. Especially since there were several other ice skaters.

Genesis grinned a daring grin and wobbled out into the middle.

Coach Rim skated easily to the middle, whereas Genesis was having trouble maintaining his balance.

"Touch your toes," Coach Rim said calmly.

Genesis's mouth dropped open and he made weird noises.

Coach Rim raised an eyebrow and said, "Don't just stand there gawking at me, you fool. Touch your toes. Or are you too scared?"

Genesis shut his mouth tightly and turned red with anger. Was this geezer pickin' a fight with Genesis Rhapsodos?!

Genesis had no trouble touching his toes, but here he was being asked to touch his toes when he was on ice! Reluctantly, Genesis slowly bent down and touched his skates.

"Boom baby!" Genesis said. He straightened up a little too quickly and fell on his behind.

"Boom baby, indeed," Coach Rim said with amusement, as he watched the embarrassed First quickly scramble up. "Now race me."

Genesis's eyes bugged out and he protested loudly, "WHAT?! I'm doing figure skating! Not speed skating, you old geezer!"

"Race me," the coach repeated.

Genesis crossed his arms and said, "And if I refuse?!"

"I won't let you compete in the Olympics," Coach Rim said airily. "Your choice, scardy-cat."

_Scardy-cat_?! _Oh this demon coach is going to _pay! Genesis's mind screamed. "I'll show _you_ who's a scardy cat, you big geezer!"

Coach Rim rubbed his hear and said, "Would you mind not screaming in my ear? I'm not deaf."

Genesis dug his heel into the ice and said through clinched teeth, "You are going to _lose_, you slow hag!"

Rim raised an eyebrow and said, "Let's not call names until after the race, Rhapsodos."

Coach Rim and Genesis skated their way to the side and made everyone get out of the way.

"Ready?" Rim asked Genesis.

Genesis gritted his teeth and nodded in reply.

"Say 'go' when you're ready," Coach Rim said.

Genesis took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Concentration. Calmness. He opened his eyes again and bent down a little. "GO!" Genesis screamed.

Genesis must have been wound up a little too tightly. Because he fell on his behind for the—what? Fifth or fourth time now?

Coach Rim skated around the First. Genesis got up and angrily tried to push the coach away. But the coach merely dodged and skated around the redhead.

"Isn't this supposed to be a _race_?!" Genesis spat. He quickly got up and began to stake forwards.

The coach just kept circling the redhead. He'd go ahead of Genesis, and then go back to Genesis. Rim would spin here and there, twirl around Genesis and made a full out of the redhead.

Genesis kept trying to skate fast, but he kept falling on his bottom.

Genesis finally made it around once. He panted and shouted angrily, "Are we done?!"

Coach Rim skated easily around and said, "Not until you can beat me. Show me what you're made of, Rhapsodos. Or are you too scared? Aren't you stubborn? Or are you going to give up?"

Genesis said angrily, "Hey! I have snowboard practice in an hour!"

Coach Rim shrugged and said, "Better get started on beating me, you big fool. The speed skating team will be coming in, in an hour."

Genesis bared his teeth. He began to try and skate again. He did lap after lap after lap. Each lap he got a little better. Just a tiny hint better. He wouldn't let the old geezer win.

"I-I'm supposed to be learning figure skating! Not speed skating!" Genesis panted.

"Ah, but in order to be a good figure skating, you must conquer skating!" Coach Rim said wisely.

The rest of the figure skaters slowly began to leave. But Genesis was determined. He. Was. A. _HERO_. And he would _be a hero to the end_! Genesis panted hard, as he pushed away sweater auburn hair from his face.

"Planning to race instead?" Asked a familiar voice.

Genesis looked up and rammed into the wall. He didn't realize how fast he was going, until he fell into the wall.

Genesis slowly got up and looked at the man who spoke. It was Sephiroth! In a… _spandex_?! Genesis could have burst with laughter on the spot, but he was hurting and out of breath. The spandex didn't look that tight on him, nor did it look silly on him. It was completely black with a silver swirl around the chest. As Genesis looked closer, he realized Sephiroth wasn't really wearing a spandex. He was wearing a tight zip-up jacket like thing and black exercising pants. Genesis kinda wished Sephiroth was wearing a spandex, so he could laugh at him, but at the same time, he was relieved Sephiroth wasn't looking like an idiot in tights.

Sephiroth slickly skated towards Genesis and helped him get up.

"I have no intention in _racing_," Genesis said with dignity.

Sephiroth put his long silver hair up into a ponytail and put on some goggles. "Too bad. I need someone to race against," Sephiroth said, getting warmed up.

Genesis frowned and said, "Where are your buddies? Too scare they'll beat you?"

Sephiroth replied back, "They're too scared of me…"

"Oh…" Genesis said in a small voice.

He thought about it. Yup. That sounded about right. Sephiroth would scare away his other teammates.

Genesis sighed and lined up. "Fine, I'll race you. Only to improve my skills."

Sephiroth finished stretching and lined up beside Genesis.

Coach Rim came back from getting lunches and saw Sephiroth. "Got an actual racer, eh, Rhapsodos?"

Genesis clinched his teeth together and focused ahead of him. "Just say go, coach…" Genesis said.

Coach Rim set down the ramen and shouted, "GO!"

Genesis and Sephiroth took off.

Genesis had finally conquered not falling over at the start, but Sephiroth was way ahead of him. Sephiroth seemed to glide on the ice, whereas Genesis had to put in lots of effort to keep his balance. Genesis was huffing and puffing and sweating like a madman. He trailed after Sephiroth, who was about twenty feet away. It seemed the more Genesis worked harder to catch up, the farther he fell behind.

"RELAX RELAX RELAX!" Screamed Coach Rim.

How could Genesis 'relax' if Coach Rim was shrieking at the top of his lungs?! Genesis hated the old fool. He hated the ice rink and he _hated_ Sephiroth, who was going to lap him soon. Genesis wanted his ramen. He had sent the old fool packing so that way he could get in some practice without him hovering over him.

Sephiroth lapped Genesis.

Genesis grew angry and finally came to a halting stop.

Coach Rim came up and said to Genesis, "Why don't you take a break?"

Genesis gave coach a savage 'no duh' look and said, "Oh gee, why didn't you say that _sooner_, you old geezer?!"

Genesis ripped off his skates and stomped out of the rink.

Coach Rim handed Genesis the hot ramen bowl. Genesis was about to peel off the top, but Rim slapped Genesis with his chopsticks. "Hey!" Rim snapped. "Not done!"

Genesis snarled, "How long must I wait?!"

"Oh maybe another minute or so…"

"But they'll get soggy!" Wailed Genesis. And with that, he tore off the lid and began to slurp down the noodles.

"You really like ramen…" Rim remarked in awe.

"Hm?" Genesis lifted his head up from the cup, and a truly childish, not at all cool looking, smile flashed on his face. A noodle was dangling out of Genesis's bulging mouth, and broth trickled down his happy face.

Coach Rim smiled and shook his head. Watching Genesis made Rim feel full, so he said, "Want my noodles?"

Genesis's face lit up and he said, "Whoa, really?!"

Coach Rim handed Genesis his bowl and Genesis began the process of eating noodles all over again.

Coach Rim took out a small box of rice and began to eat that.

Genesis watched Sephiroth glide away on the ice. "I hate him."

"He's a better skater, that's for sure!"

Genesis put his hands on the railing and let out a volley of bad words at coach Rim. In defense, Rim picked up a chopstick full of rice and shoved it in Genesis's mouth. Gagging on the unexpected rice, Genesis yanked the chopsticks from coach Rim's hand and threw them down onto his plate. "What was that for?" Genesis snarled.

Shaking an index finger, coach Rim tutted Genesis and said calmly, "I didn't have any soap to wash your dirty little mouth with, so I had to use rice."

"You little—! You—" Screamed Genesis with a mouth full of rice. He didn't have far to go, because Rim quickly shoved more rice into Genesis's mouth.

"Oh, now, now… Said Rim, his voice dripping with false sweetness.

It was a wonder that Genesis's ears weren't pouring out steam right now. As he opened her mouth, coach Rim fed him more rice, as if he were a child being fed by a parent.

"This is stupid, you little—" Finally, with the mouth full of rice, Genesis grabbed the chopsticks from coach Rim for the second time and snapped them in two. Then he spat the rice in his mouth into the rice bowl.

Coach Rim groaned in annoyance. "You just ruined good rice!"

"I don't give a darn!" Snarled Genesis. He crossed his arms and began to sulk.

"See how smoothly Sephiroth is skating?" Rim pointed out. "Watching other skaters is also good."

Genesis didn't want to watch Sephiroth. He didn't want to see the ice rink ever again.

"I'm going snowboarding," Genesis decided. He stood up and stretched.

Coach Rim seemed mesmerized by Sephiroth speed skating. He was going ridiculously fast, his silver hair flying in the air. Genesis glanced at Sephiroth and snorted. "That hair," Genesis mocked. "Shouldn't he get it _cut_?"

Coach Rim thought about Genesis's remark and said, "I have a feeling the judges will let it pass by. He _is_ Sephiroth, and people know better than to touch his hair."

* * *

"Zack!" Aerith waved at Zack from the bleachers.

Zack looked up from playing hockey and beamed at the girl.

Most of the SOLDIERs were milling about on the ice and some were attempting a small game. But it was hard to play or move around fast when your stomach was crying out for food.

Zack took off his helmet and skated over to the side. Aerith walked up to the tall plastic boarder and held up a grocery bag.

"I made bento boxes!" Aerith said, waving the grocery bag around.

Zack grinned and pressed his nose to the wall and panted, "Is it a three layer bento box?"

Aerith nodded and said, "Of course it has three layers, silly!"

Zack sighed in relief and said, "I'm super hungry!"

"When can you have lunch?"

"As soon as the other SOLDIERs get theirs," Zack said, turning to look at the other SOLDIERs.

"Wow, I can't believe I was able to get in the hockey rink!" Marveled Aerith, as she looked around the ice rink.

Zack looked around too and replied, "It is in Midgar, not ShinRa, so I guess people are allowed to come in and watch."

"Then how come no one else is in here watching?" Aerith asked.

Zack thought about it and said, "Hmm… because everyone else is doing something else. Besides, you're my friend, why shouldn't you come and visit?"

Aerith shrugged and laughed.

Just then, twelve big men came into the rink. They seemed to be carrying lunches and jugs of water.

Zack glanced at them and then said, "Lunch time!"

He quickly skated to the door, as other SOLDIERs began to pile out of the rink.

Aerith waited patiently, as Zack wormed out of the rest of the SOLDIERs and took off his skates. Aerith handed Zack his bento box and the two of them sat down on the bleachers.

Zack opened his bento box and grinned down at it. "Hey look! It's me!"

Inside the first layer of the box, was a mini version of Zack, made from rice, seaweed and two bright blue caviars for the eyes.

"You wouldn't believe how expensive the caviar was!" Aerith said, leaning over Zack. She handed Zack a pair of chopsticks and opened her bento box.

Zack looked over curiously to see if she had anything designed on hers. "I spent my time designing your bento box!" Aerith said grinning a big smile.

Zack blinked and stared at her own bento box. Pile of rice, pile of seaweed, pile of fresh veggies, one boiled egg, and some meat. He picked up one of his caviars and said, "Hey, Aerith, open wide!"

Aerith looked puzzled but opened her mouth. Zack plopped the blue fish egg into her mouth. "Did I just eat one of your eyes?" Aerith asked.

Zack nodded and squinted one of his eyes. "Yup! You sure did!" Zack picked up the other caviar and put it in his own mouth. Then he closed his other eye tight and said, "Now both of my eyes are gone!"

"Open wide," Aerith said.

Zack opened his mouth, his eyes still shut tight. Aerith plopped a fish egg into Zack's mouth. "Did I just eat one of _your_ eyes?" Zack asked opening one eye.

Aerith squinted back, one of her eyes shut tight. "Now we both have only one eye!" She said, holding up one finger.

"Let's see who can eat the longest like this!" Zack suggested.

Aerith nodded and said, "I think I did a good job at finding your eyes. Those fish eggs were some kind of rare blue eggs. I thought the eggs looked almost like your eyes."

"Maybe the fish that layed the eggs are called Mako-Mako fish! Hi, Mako-Mako, fish!" He said, rubbing his tummy.

Aerith laughed and said, "Mako-Mako! I like that!" She too rubbed her tummy and said, "You sure were good!"

Then they sat in silence. Zack was practically _inhaling _his food. He was ravenously hungry and was on his third layer now.

"I'm full, want the rest of mine?" Aerith asked.

Zack lifted his head up, his face covered in rice. "Don't you want to eat more? You're not very big."

Aerith reassured her friend, "I ate a big breakfast a while ago." She dumped the rest of her food into Zack's bento box. Zack beamed and went on eating like a barbarian.

"So how's Team Zack going?" Aerith asked curiously.

Zack lifted his head up again and said with a mouth full of food, "Team Aerith is going great! Angeal is the hockey captain!"

Both Zack and Aerith insisted on calling the team after each other. They were both stubborn and refused to call it any other name.

"For desert, I brought an apple and some candy!" Aerith said, digging through the grocery bag. She handed Zack some candy and half a green apple.

"You make good bento boxes!" Zack said, biting into the sweet yet pungent green apple.

Aerith beamed and said, "Thanks!"

After finishing the apple and the candy, Aerith packed up the bento boxes and the trash.

"Do you know when the Olympics start?" Aerith asked, scratching her nose.

"Director Lazard sent out an email saying it would start on Christmas night," Zack said, remembering the email.

"I'll be sure to cheer you on!" Aerith said grinning up at Zack.

"Guess what, guess what!" Zack said eagerly.

Aerith replied, "What?"

"Genesis Rhapsodos is doing figure skating _and_ snowboarding!"

"Why would Mr. Rhapsodos do two things? Is anyone else doing two things?" Aerith wondered.

Zack shook his head and said, "I think Director Lazard wanted him to do two things. Angeal thinks because Lazard want to teach a lesson to the redhead. I don't know why exactly."

Aerith was quiet and in deep thought.

"I have to get back to practice," Zack said, standing up.

"Can I watch you until you're done?" Aerith asked hopefully.

Zack nodded and said, "Sure, as long as you stay in sight. Then after practice, I'll walk you home."

* * *

"Don't dig your nails into the wood!" Barked Lazard.

Angeal lifted his hands off the desk and crossed his arms. He glared down at Lazard and snarled, "Why aren't you letting Zack Fair play?!"

Lazard's eyebrows creased and he said quietly, "I didn't say that boy couldn't play. I said he'll only play when Green Team most needs him."

Angeal grimaced and said, "That boy is six foot three, and is perfectly capable of playing hockey against the other SOLDIERs."

Lazard said calmly, "Hewley, the boy is only sixteen."

"But he's got the size and strength of a man!" Protested Angeal.

Lazard said back, a little more gruffly, "Hewley, there are other SOLDIERs who are more experienced and less compulsive."

"You realize that all of the SOLDIERs are getting the exact same teaching? That Zack is as good as them? It's not like the Firsts have been playing hockey longer!" Angeal growled.

Angeal was getting frustrated. Lazard had sent him an email to talk to him in person. Now that he was here, Lazard was telling Angeal how Zack couldn't play.

"You know why I'm taking Zack out of the main game?" Lazard said fiercely.

"Why?" Snarled Angeal.

Lazard took a deep breath and sighed, "Because of Reno…"

Angeal balled up his fists. "Reno…" He said quietly.

Lazard nodded. "Angeal, in each team, other than red, I've taken out a good player. I'm giving Red Team a handicap, because they have a Turk who wants to play against the SOLDIERs. Hewley, do you realize how dangerous it could be for Reno playing against the SOLDIERs?"

Angeal wished he could bash Reno's head against the cold ice and use him as a hockey puck.

Lazard said again, "If one of your teammates gets hurt, you can bring in Fair. Otherwise, Fair will remain out of the game. Understand?"

Angeal thought about it. He really didn't want to tell Zack he couldn't play unless someone else got hurt. But to look on the bright side (sort of), people got hurt in hockey all the time.

"Fine… I'll tell him. But he gets to continue with practice, right?"

Lazard nodded. "Of course, Hewley."

* * *

"Hey," Zack said softy. He poked Aerith on the forehead.

Aerith groaned in her sleep and slowly opened her eyes. Zack's face was inches away from her own face. Aerith jerked her head back and nearly jumped out of her skin. "_Shiva_!" She squawked, pushing Zack away. "Don't do that! You scared me half to death!"

Zack smiled apologetically and said, "Sorry, but you fell asleep."

Aerith rubbed her eyes and said, "What time is it?"

"Eighteen:fifty one. Everyone is gone. They left half an hour ago," Zack said, his smile left.

Aerith sat up. The only light in the room was the lights shining on the rink. Aerith could detect something wrong with Zack. Zack wasn't being himself.

"What's wrong?" Aerith yawned.

Zack helped Aerith up and said quietly, "I'll tell you on the way to your home."

Zack helped Aerith bundle up in her coat and grabbed the grocery bag. "I can carry that," Aerith said, trying to grab the grocery bag. Zack shook his head and pushed the door open.

They walked together in silence for a while.

"Sooo… what's wrong?" Aerith asked carefully.

Zack sighed and said, "It turns out I'm not going to get to play hockey unless someone on my team gets hurt…"

Aerith said quietly, "Oh… I'm so sorry. Why?"

"Because Director Lazard told Angeal that he had to handicap Red Team… because of Reno… all of the other teams lost one of their best players too," Zack said. His voice seemed to waver a little in the cold night air.

Aerith walked closer to Zack and put her arm around his waist. "I don't mean to sound rude or anything," Aerith started. "But this sounds like some melodramatic movie about a boy loving some kind of sport and then not being able to play it."

"Tell me about it," Zack said miserably. He put his arm around Aerith's waist.

They walked in silence all the way back to Aerith's house. Right before Aerith left, Aerith turned to Zack and said, "But you know what, Zack?"

"What?"

"In those melodramatic movies, the boy at the last minute gets to play the game. And he ends up winning the game," Aerith said supportively.

Zack scratched his head and said, "I dunno if it's going to end up like that, Aerith."

Aerith smiled up at Zack and said, "It will happen! I'm sure of it. Can you bend down a little?"

Zack bewildered, bent down a little. Aerith stood on tiptoes and gave Zack a quick kiss on the nose.

* * *

December Twenty Fifth was a cold day. The snow had been around since the beginning of December and it was now packed tight. Although, it had snowed an extra inch the night before.

The day in Midgar was busy. Everyone was doing last minute preparations for the big games. All the SOLDIERs were doing last minute practices and extremely busy.

Genesis Rhapsodos had finally learned how to properly figure skate as well as snowboard. Sephiroth was completely calm and serene about the whole event. Zack had a whole fire ant mountain up his pants. He squirmed constantly and refused to sit down for more than ten seconds. Cloud was more giddily and joined Zack with his wild personality. Reno and Angeal seemed perfectly cool about the games. Only Lazard seemed super worried. He constantly pestered and threw out advice to the SOLDIERs. He seemed to be everywhere at once. Testing the ski jump here, skating on the ice rink there, and hoping around on the mogul course.

After a long, yet exciting day, it was finally time for the big show.

Zack was bouncing up and down, trying to get the butterflies out of his stomach. "I gotta go to the bathroom!" Squeaked Zack.

Angeal sighed and snapped, "You just went five minutes ago!"

Zack didn't reply but began to bounce faster and faster.

Cloud was constantly putting his weight onto one foot and then the other. He bit his lip and tried to remain calm.

Genesis clinched his teeth and said, "Shiva, its cold!"

Sephiroth didn't seem bothered by the cold. He was talking to Andreas, who happened to be bigger than Zack Fair. Kyle Andreas had been one of the ones who were knocked out of the games unless needed.

Angeal peeked behind the curtains. He could see President ShinRa and Rufus ShinRa take their seats. Lazard was nervously dashing around, trying to get people settled.

One of Lazard's secretary came up and said, "Okay, SOLDIERs, Turks, and cadets! This is the big thing! Please line up with your coulour!"

Angeal tightened his green bandanna around his arm, and lined up with his colour. There was mad scramble as everyone lined up in four different colours.

The woman secretary listened into her earpiece and nodded. "Let's do this, people! March out all at once!"

Everyone began to march out at once, a perfect march out into the cold weather.

The first fifty people had already marched out when the secretary screamed, "Wait WAIT!"

Everyone froze. The poor woman did a facepalm and said, "I'm so sorry! Everyone march backwards!"

Everyone began to march backwards, but it turned out to be the wrong thing to do. All the SOLDIERs began to step on each other's heels and fall over. Loud swearing came from the SOLIDER's mouths and everyone began to grow hot against each other.

The secretary closed her eyes and breathed a swear word.

Once everyone was in, she said calmly, "March out one colour at a time. Reds, GO!"

Red Team marched out again into the blustery night.

The woman held her breath and then shouted, "Yellows, GO!"

Team Yellow marched out.

"Blue Team, GO!"

Blue went out.

"Green Team, GO!"

Green went out into the winter's night.

All the teams lined up in perfect formation. As they stood there, fireworks burst into the air and wild music blared from somewhere.

The crowd went wild and began to cheer violently. People from the crowd tossed bouquets of flowers. Zack spotted Aerith in the vast crowd and waved frantically at her. Aerith saw Zack and threw in his direction a bouquet of rare pale green flowers. Zack caught the flowers before any other SOLDIERs could catch it.

A blue bouquet flew in Sephiroth's direction and smacked in him in the face. Sephiroth glared down at the bouquet and kicked it roughly aside.

Genesis was in all his glory. His arms were spread out, soaking in all the glory and pleasure.

Finally, everyone stopped screaming and everyone settled back down. Lazard stood up and said through microphone, "Welcome, everyone, welcome to the Winter Olympics in Midgar! Today we have Team Blue, Team Green, Team Red, and Team Yellow! These four brave teams consist of Turks, cadets, and SOLDIERs from ShinRa. They will be competing against each other in popular winter sports! The team with the most metals wins. I should say that a gold metal equals up to three metals, silver to two metals, and a bronze is just one metal."

Lazard sat down and handed the microphone to President ShinRa. President ShinRa stood up slowly and said, "_LET THE WINTER OLYMPICS BEGIN_!"

* * *

**_END OF PART ONE!_**

A/N: In this story, I'm mainly ignoring the logical facts. Aerith technically wouldn't have met Zack yet, nobody can be super good at some sport in a year, and the writing of the sports may be off (I'm a writer, not a sports person). But just enjoy the story for what it is! One last thing! Which team are you voting for? Team Genesis, Team Aerith (or Zack, which ever you wish to call it), Blue Team, or Team Chocobo? One last thing, later on, you'll get to know more about Team Chocobo. Team Chocobo is definitely not the kind that gets left behind…

Also mind you, because I'm not a sports writer, I'm probably misusing a bunch of sport words. Hopefully you can forgive me and my substitute words that I think fit in.

In Part Two, you will learn:

_ 1. _Don't take Team Chocobo lightly

_ 2. _Genesis Rhapsodos: Friend or Foe?!

_ 3. _One simple idea remains

_ 4. _Genesis ruins the ice skating rink

_ 5. _There's a common death disease in ShinRa called 'Dying by Fan Girls'

_ 6. _Zack get to be what Genesis would kill to be

_ 7. _Nobody wins the Olympics


	2. Chapter 2

**Written by Tora  
**

* * *

**_PART TWO: LET THE GAMES BEGIN!_**

"Are you nervous, widdle Sephy?" Genesis cooed, watching Sephiroth eat his breakfast.

Sephiroth looked up from his congee and glared at Genesis. "You told me you wouldn't call me that," Sephiroth said calmly.

Genesis scrunched up his face and said, "Did I? Strange, I don't remember saying such a thing… oh well… okay, fine,_ Sephiroth_."

Sephiroth coldly turned back to his breakfast and continued eating.

Zack scurried over to Genesis and plopped down. Genesis made a face and decided to get up and sit next to Sephiroth.

"I'm really nervous," Zack said, clutching his stomach.

Genesis spat back, "You're not even playing!"

Zack shrugged and said, "Not to day I'm not. But I'm still nervous for our team."

Genesis snorted. "Fair, everyone knows that Team Genesis is going to win…"

Zack began to nervously rub his hands together. He breathed a silent prayer and said, "Nope, Team Aerith is going to win!" He said it with so much confidence, Genesis flinched.

"Uhhh, rightttt," Genesis said, taking his gaze off the raven haired boy. "Off you go, Fair, Sephiroth must get his strength for the day."

Sephiroth stopped eating again. He glared at Genesis and snapped, "What's your problem?! We're not on the same team."

Genesis shrugged and said, "Just trying to be _nice_."

Sephiroth snorted. Genesis. Being nice? What did that little brat want from him? Genesis was never 'nice' unless he wanted something.

"What do you want?" Sephiroth said, still glaring at Genesis.

Genesis wistfully sighed. "Well… as I was walking back to ShinRa, I passed a store that was selling this _beautiful_ lotion. The lotion was scented fuchsia. I got to try a sample and I fell instantly in love with it. It was as soft as butter, as cool as the mountains and as warm as the ground heated up by the sun!" Genesis said dramatically.

Sephiroth narrowed his eyes. "Why on _earth_ would you want _me_ to buy it for you?"

Genesis shrugged and said with a sheepish grin, "'Cuz we're pals?"

"And you really want it?" Sephiroth asked skeptically.

Genesis nodded.

An idea floated into Sephiroth's mind.

"How badly do you want it?" Sephiroth asked, putting his congee aside.

"So bad it makes my heart ache!" Genesis replied.

Sephiroth smiled a little. "What are you willing to pay for this lotion?"

"_Anything_!"

"_Anything_…?"

"_ANYTHING_."

"Zack, would you come here for a second?" Sephiroth beckoned Zack to come a little closer.

Zack was scared of the First Class General. His legs knocked together as he slipped off the bench and went over to the First. Sephiroth stood up and whispered something into the terrified boy's ears. All the sudden, Zack's face lit up a little and he nodded vigorously.

Sephiroth sat down and turned to Genesis. "Zack is going to get your lotion and I also told him to pick up your figure skating outfit."

Genesis said, "I'm not figure skating until tomorrow night."

"Then Zack will pick it up for you. Besides, you wouldn't want to hurry yourself right before the performance, right?" Sephiroth said. He took a sip of tea to hide his smile of amusement.

Genesis nodded in agreement and said, "True, I wouldn't want to get all pumped up before the performance. Okay, Zack will pick up my costume and the lotion tomorrow night. Then I'll put some lotion on before the performance and dazzle the judges with my scent AND skills!"

Sephiroth gave Genesis an odd smile. "Oh yes you will, oh yes you will…"

* * *

"Welcome to ShinRa's Winter Olympics!" Said the sports announcer in a dramatic voice. "We are here in the ice skating palace, broadcasting from Midgar! MarySue, what do you have to say about the first game?"

MarySue, obviously the other sports announcer, replied emotionally, "Well, Rico, as we all know, this is a very emotional moment for ShinRa and for Midgar, as well as the rest of the world. This is our first Olympics and it must be very emotional for the speed skaters, knowing that they are the first people _ever_ to play in the Olympics."

Rico nodded seriously and said, "You're very right, MarySue. Why don't you tell us the list of names and their class?"

MarySue took out some papers and said, "You've got it. To speed it up, I'm just going to say their last names. For Red Team we've got, Naru, Seth, Regard. Naru and Regard are Second Class SOLDIERs and Seth is a Third Class. For Blue Team we've got… Shafer, Astin, and Sephiroth. Sephiroth is in First Class, while the other two are in Second Class. For Yellow Team we have… Knight, Draconian, and Ethan. There are two Second Class, Ethan and Draconian. Knight is a Third Class. And for Green Team, we have, Gan, Avery, and Luras. Avery is the only First Class in Team Green, while the other two are in Second Class. And there you have it!"

Rico bobbed his head up and down like a parrot and replied, "There will be three rounds, and only one colour from each round will be in the finals. The finals will take place tomorrow night. However, this is only the ten lap race, not the fifteen lap race. The fifteen lap race will take place in the second week of ShinRa's Winter Olympics!"

MarySue wiped away a tear and sniffed, "This is _such_ an emotional moment. Let us all have a moment of silence…" MarySue and Rico bowed their heads, but Rico quickly shouted, "LOOK! HERE THEY COME!"

Twelve men entered the ice palace, all looking very serious and relaxed. One of the men had very long silver hair tied in a ponytail.

"Now tell me, Rico, do you think that hair will be a bother?" MarySue asked, pointing to Sephiroth's long hair.

Rico rubbed his double chin and said, "I don't know, MarySue, that's Sephiroth the Silver General. First Class SOLDIER in ShinRa. He's a very respectable man."

Rico blinked a couple times and then said, "_CUT_!"

MarySue took out a small mirror and a tube of lipstick. Then she began thickly applying the red substance onto her lips. "Okay, I'm good for camera now."

Rico quickly rubbed some kind of goop into his hair and then oiled it. Rico then said, "Okay, I think we're ready."

MarySue nodded and said, "Man, I am sick of rehearsing. Let's get this right!"

A couple crew helpers came up and adjusted MarySue's hair and straightened Rico's tie.

"Do I have to cry? It messes up my mascara," MarySue said, reapplying the sticky black mascara.

One of the crew said, "MarySue, I told you to wear the _waterproof_ mascara! Hey, someone get the waterproof mascara and quick! They're going to start soon!"

"Oh no! It's okay! No biggy! Let's go ahead and do it. I don't want to make the world mad just because I had a mascara crisis."

Then the director said, "Okay, we're going to be broadcasting live in five… four… three… two… one… GO!"

Everyone went silent and Rico cleared his throat. "Welcome to ShinRa's Winter Olympics! We are here in the speed skating rink, broadcasting from Midgar! MarySue, what do you have to say about the first game?"

* * *

Genesis went red in the face.

His white knuckles grasped his figure skating costume.

It was _blue_.

His shirt was long and loose; it was deep blue at the bottom and then sky blue near the top. His pants were dark dark dark blue. The gold embroidered designs were now silver.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE ONCE _RED_ FIGURE SKATING COSTUME?!

Genesis glared down at his outfit. Even the sparkles were blue! Genesis couldn't go out wearing _this _in public! What would his teammates think?!

Someone rapped on the dressing room door.

"Rhapsodos? Figure skating is about to start!" Someone said impatiently.

_SHIVA! _Genesis's mind shrieked with anger. He bit his lip in frustration and nearly knocked over the dressing table. He didn't have time to fix it or get a new one. He would… have… to wear this outfit.

He remembered when Zack appeared with the package and the lotion. He was going to _kill_ Sephiroth.

Genesis quickly changed into the costume and put on a red masquerade mask onto his face. The… red… mask kinda only looked good with the red costume. But Genesis had no time. He quickly put on some of the lotion and… then realized he needed to use the restroom. Genesis _hated_ when he put lotion on his hands and realized he had to go to the stupid bathroom. He quickly made his exit to the bathroom before going up.

After he got some new lotion, Genesis walked out of the small dressing room.

His coach blinked and said, "W…what…?"

Genesis's face flushed crimson for the second time and he snapped peevishly, "Can we just get going?"

Coach Rim shrugged and gulped a little. "Okay… you're up, Genesis…"

"DO YOU HEAR THAT?" Rico shouted through his microphone.

MarySue said dramatically, "It sounds like booing!"

Rico began to spittle a little as he continued to shout into his microphone, "Genesis Rhapsodos, First Class SOLDIER in ShinRa is on Team Red, but is _WEARING_ a _blue_ outfit!"

MarySue intently looked at the awkward redhead and said, "Well, his mask is red. What could this mean? Could he be slowly trying to change his colour?!"

Rico began to speed talk. "That can't be right! If Rhapsodos wanted to change teams, he should have contacted Lazard sooner!"

"Will Rhapsodos be disqualified?" MarySue asked in a worried voice. "Rhapsodos is the man of every woman's dreams, including mine, so I'm _sure_ Rhapsodos's fan girls won't let him get disqualified."

"He's beginning! Rhapsodos is dancing to a well-known classical piece. Mars was composed by the much loved Gustav Holst!" Rico said knowledgably. "Rhapsodos is about to do a triple spin… Oh brilliant! You could see how well controlled he was! You know, it seemed like yesterday Rhapsodos couldn't keep his balance. So is pressure a good thing or a bad thing for a person?"

"You know, Rico, different people have different personalities... If pressure is what makes you motivated, I think pressure is a wonderful thing. But some people just get so wound up and so tight, they can't think properly. I think Rhapsodos does better under pressure, but it's really too early to say," MarySue said calmly.

"Look how nicely he's skating. At the beginning, his coach said he couldn't even skate around the rink. It's amazing how much he learned within a year!" Rico said, watching Rhapsodos like a hawk.

"Well, all the SOLDIERs aren't professionals, but they did learn quite a lot within a year. Their coaches just kept pushing them! Genesis is now entering into his second triple axel… can he pull it off a second time? THE ANSWER IS YES! See how high and powerful his spin was?!" MarySue shouted, getting so enthusiastic and excited.

Genesis couldn't believe he pulled off the second spin. The rest _should_ be a walk in the park, now that those two spins were off his chest.

Genesis dramatically waved his hands in the air and wiggled his fingers. He elegantly arched his back and then straightened up.

He couldn't believe he was able to skate around so easily! Twisting around, Genesis grew wild with his moves, as the song picked up speed. He would pick up his left foot and skate around with one skate and then he did the splits in the air.

Then at the end, Genesis pretended to tragically die. He clutched at his heart and wavered back and worth. Genesis bent down to the floor. He was balanced by the tip of his left blade and the blade of his right. Genesis spread out his arms dramatically and bent his head down to his knee. The music ended.

The crowd erupted with applause. Bloody murder shrieks from the women pretty much drowned out the claps.

Genesis rose and took off his mask. He kissed it and threw it into the crowd. The girls near it tore it to shreds like piranhas. Genesis grinned and blew kisses into the air and bowed like a gentleman.

Then Genesis elegantly skated to the entrance and was handed his blade guards by his coach.

Genesis beamed at the coach and swatted his coach's back. Coach Rim swatted back with surprising force. Genesis should take note. Coach Rim was stronger than he looked.

Coach Rim and Genesis sat down on the waiting bench.

MarySue commented, "Did you see those fan girls, Rico?!"

"I know I saw them with my own eyes. If Genesis went to them, they'd kill him!" Rico said dramatically, he squinted his eyes in terror of the idea of dying by fan girls.

MarySue nodded very seriously and said, "Yes, apparently a snowboarder by the name of Cloud Strife made the mistake of going into the sea of girls after winning silver, trying to find a female friend of his. Strife just barely made it out alive. He's recovering at the sickbay right now as we speak."

"Poor soul, Strife is very young and new to this disease commonly called 'death by fan girl'…" Rico said, bowing his head.

"Oh look! The scores are here!" MarySue shouted pointing at the records.

Rico's mouth dropped open and he began shouting wildly, "AND THERE WE HAVE IT, MIDGAR! THE HIGHEST SCORE SO FAR! An 85.38! And Rhapsodos easily goes to the finals!"

MarySue had tears streaming down her face, as she wiped away the mascara. "Oh Gaia! I can't believe he did it!"

Genesis jumped up and down and began to scream with pure joy. His fan girls also began to scream their banshee-like shriek. Everyone began to clap and cheer for the redhead.

Genesis looked up at MarySue, pointed to her, and then winked. All the sudden, MarySue shrieked with joy and then pretended that didn't happen. (She felt a little bad for the people watching the Olympics who had to listen to her shrieking through a microphone!)

"Well done, Rhapsodos," Coach Rim said, smiling a smile with a hint of pride. "Now I must be going."

"Where?" Genesis panted. He was a little sad that the old geezer was going so soon.

"President ShinRa invited me to dinner," Coach said, as if supping with the President of ShinRa was an everyday event.

Genesis stood there for a second then realized what his coach had just said. "Why didn't he invite me too?!" Genesis said bursting into a fit of anger.

"Look, you arrogant redhead, I had to put up with you for nearly a year. I deserve this moment with the President. Try not to ruin it," Coach Rim said, putting on a baseball cap. He gave Genesis a looser/sucker look and then gave Genesis the looser sign.

Genesis turned red with anger and said, "Hey, I just won a gold medal ! Show some respect, you old geezer!"

Coach Rim snorted and said, "You haven't won the gold medal yet, you dunce."

* * *

Zack was worried.

The hockey game between Green Team and Yellow team was coming up just around the corner. Zack hadn't worried or even thought about Yellow Team's hockey group… until Team Chocobo suckered Blue Team AND Red Team.

The Chocobo hockey group had two serious and major guys. Those two where the ones who pretty much suckered the other teams.

Andreas, a First, and Audrey, a Second.

Andreas was in his mid-thirties, but he had enough gray hairs for a fifty year old. Andreas wasn't very fast, but his brain was quick. He was a strategist, and a very good one at that. When SOLDIERs had a mission to do, they always went to Andreas for advice and help. However, he was pulled out of hockey because of his size. He was _huge_. Andreas had to be taken out of hockey, because of the whole handicapping Reno ordeal. However, you could not take away Andreas's mind. Andreas was the center of the spider web. He was the one who came up with the game plans and strategies.

Artemis Audrey was so impulsive, he had been threatened to be kicked out of ShinRa if he didn't follow orders correctly. He may not have been near as smart as some of the other SOLDIERs, but he never hesitated to change something that was wrong. If Audrey saw a flaw in the middle of a game, or something unexpected happened, he would change the whole strategy of the game without thinking. Being super impulsive and not hesitating was what kept the team going. However, his teammates hated him for being so impulsive. Because of his impulsiveness, his mates had to learn how to read him at the start of the year.

Team Aerith had lost to Blue Team and won against Red Team.

Red team… had lost pretty much every game… Reno wasn't the best player, and his teammates grew frustrated with the redhead Turk.

If Team Aerith lost to Team Chocobo, Team Chocobo would win gold. If Team Aerith won, then they could at least stall Team Chocobo until the next game between them. If Team Aerith won this round, then the next game would be between Yellow Team and Green Team, to see who won gold.

Zack felt like throwing up his lunch.

The game would be taking place tonight.

The other SOLIDERs on Team Aerith seemed worried too. Their tempers seemed to be short and they all seemed to catch Zack's ants.

Like always, the only one who didn't catch the ants or was flipping out was Angeal. It took all of Angeal's strength to keep the team together.

* * *

Kyle Andreas studied the map. It was a map of the hockey rink and had scribbles and drawings all over it.

Kyle wished he could concentrate a little harder, but his mind appeared to be a little foggy.

Someone knocked on his office door. Kyle sat up and said, "Yes?"

The door opened and Titus Krake came in. Titus Krake was a Third Class and Kyle's apprentice.

"Oh, it's just you," Kyle said, slumping down a little.

Titus blinked at his master and put his hands in his pockets. "Well aren't you just a ray of sunshine…"

Kyle smiled a little and rubbed his eyes. "I'm just a little tired. For some reason I haven't been able to think up a new strategy yet. Sorry."

Titus pulled up a chair and said, "I don't mind. But the rest of the team is getting a little restless."

Kyle took his pencil and sharpened it a little. He began to silently sketch out a peregrine falcon on the map. "You wanna know why I like peregrine falcons?"

Titus groaned a little. _Not another lecture about falcons_… Titus thought. "What do you like about falcons?" Titus said respectfully.

"They eat pigeons," Kyle said simply.

"How… lovely…" Titus said sarcastically.

Kyle took no heed of the sarcastic black haired boy. Kyle began to draw elaborate wings for the falcon. "Pigeons are about the same size as peregrines. I like jumping spiders too. You wanna know why?"

"Because," Started Titus. "They eat pigeons?"

Kyle shook his head. He began to draw an abdomen with a number of legs. Then he drew a head with fangs. "They eat bigger spiders…" Kyle said calmly. "You don't have to be big in order to defeat someone."

"Thanks… for that wise piece of information…?" Titus offered.

Kyle sighed and pushed back gray/silver hairs from his Mako eyes. "So… what happens when another team beats us?"

Titus frowned. Another team beat them? If they beat Green Team, they'd get a gold medal . Titus said slowly, "I'm sorry, I don't think I heard you correctly, Andreas."

Kyle raised an eyebrow and glared at Titus. "I'm trying to say that our hockey group is depending on me too much."

Titus blinked. It was obvious the idea of losing wasn't sinking into his brain. "Artemis will back us up," Titus said confidently.

"And if Audrey doesn't?"

"You won't fail us?"

"And why is that?"

"Because… because you're the Great Strategist…! You can't fail a _hockey_ team!" Titus said, trying to sound courageous and brave.

Kyle stopped drawing and gazed at his map before him. He laced his fingers and sighed. "One of these days, I'm going to fail someone. This old brain isn't going to last forever."

Titus raised an eyebrow. "Are you going through some midlife crisis or something, gramps?"

"_Gramps_?" Kyle said indignantly. "The way you're putting it makes me seem twice as old!"

Titus yawned and stretched his arms. Someone knocked on the door. Kyle quickly sat up again and said gruffly, "Come in!"

A sharp nose poked in, followed by a thin face. A grin stretched across the thin face, as the man stepped into the room. He saluted Kyle and said, "The team is growing restless, Commander Andreas!"

Kyle yawned and said to the pointy face man, "Aubrey, tell the team I'm _still_ not done with tonight's plans."

"Um, I'm Audrey, sir… not Aubrey. You know, with a _D_ instead of a B?" Corrected Artemis Audrey.

Kyle yawned again and said, "Oh whatever. I'm getting old, okay?"

Artemis glanced at Titus and asked, "I-is he going through some kind of midlife crisis?"

Titus shrugged and said, "Well, I probably ought to get in some more practice. Let's go, Artemis."

Artemis cocked his head to the side and said, "Me thinks our Commander is in the greys…"

"I'm more in the blues then grays. You wanna know why?" Kyle said.

Titus whispered to Artemis, "Is default setting is 'you wanna know why'."

Artemis blinked rapidly and said, "Um, I guess. Why?"

Kyle slumped to the desk and rested his head on his arms. "Because I like peregrine falcons."

Titus rolled his eyes and muttered under his breath to Artemis, "Sometimes I think Kyle's just as ADHD as you are, Artemis…"

As Titus and Artemis left, Kyle shouted after them, "Tell them if they grow impatient, I'll shove my pencil up their nose!"

* * *

Genesis could have _murdered_ the people who printed and wrote the newspapers.

A colourful picture of _him_ was on the front. Normally, Genesis would have _loved_ being in the newspaper. But this was a picture of him in his blue costume. The title of the paper said in bold italics: **_GENESIS RHAPSODOS: FRIEND OR FOE?!_**

Genesis's face turned red as he started to read it.

_Young First Class, Genesis Rhapsodos, goes into finals! But here we have a picture of Rhapsodos dancing to Gustavo's Planets (Mars), wearing blue! Genesis Rhapsodos's actual team colour is red!_

_President ShinRa said he couldn't imagine Genesis betraying his teammates. However some spectators say that Rhapsodos has a reputation for being impish and that way. _

_Could Rhapsodos be change loyalties?! Can anyone to trust this fiery redhead?! Will his teammates trust him anymore?! Is Rhapsodos collecting intelligence for the other team?! OR IS RHAPSODOS A DOUBLE AGENT?! Turn the next page for answers!_

Genesis ripped the newspaper in two. He began to wildly shred it up into a billion pieces. All he wanted to do was kill the writers, burn their bodies into ashes, and then dance on them.

Genesis grimaced and looked down at the shredded paper. What was he going to do? Should he try and clear his name? Or should he just ignore what the paper and people say.

For now, Genesis would _try_ and ignore what the people said… but if it got _too_ bad, he would have to try and clear his name. Still, Genesis had an urge to find the printing shop and murder everyone in there.

Genesis picked up his skates and walked out of his room. He felt like practicing at the ice rink today. Genesis stopped dead in his track. Everyone was staring at him, like he was an alien from outer space. Some looked sad, others looked annoyed and some looked angry. Genesis tried waving a little and grinning a sheepish grin. "Not my fault," Genesis said the words quiet and dying away in his throat.

Genesis hung his head and walked outside into the cold December air. Even the people in Midgar seemed to be a little frosty towards him. It wasn't _his_ fault that Sephiroth did something weird to his outfit!

Genesis walked into the skating room, and glared daggers at Sephiroth, who was practicing as well.

"_You_!" Genesis snarled, pointing a finger at Sephiroth.

Sephiroth glanced up to look at the enraged redhead. Then he looked back to what he was doing, and continued to ignore Genesis.

Genesis growled. He hated being ignored. Especially when Sephiroth was ignoring him. Especially especially when Sephiroth pulled a nasty prank on him, and was now going on about his biz, as if Genesis wasn't glaring daggers into his soul. He _hated _being ignored.

"HEY, DUMMY!" Genesis shouted angrily.

Sephiroth kept skating.

"HEY, DUMMY WHO WAS SO MEAN TO HIS FRIEND!"

Sephiroth didn't glance upwards.

"HEY, DUMMY WHO WAS SO MEAN TO HIS X-FRIEND AND WON'T EVEN SAY SORRY! HEY, YOU HOJO DUMMY! LOOK AT ME!" Screamed Genesis at the top of his lungs. He waved his hands wildly.

Sephiroth skidded to a halt and glared at Genesis. That took the cake. Genesis grinned wickedly at Sephiroth and said, "Listening now?"

Sephiroth snarled back, "What do you want, brat?"

Genesis raised an eyebrow. "So, my nickname is brat, is it, Hojo?"

Sephiroth continued to glare at the daring redhead. "If you call me Hojo again, I think I'll kill you with my skates." Sephiroth said easily.

Genesis closed his gobs. At least he got Sephiroth's attention. He quickly lace dup his skating shoes and joined Sephiroth.

"Mean-head," Genesis said to Sephiroth.

Sephiroth ignored the redhead's attempt at aggravating him.

"Booger-brain," Genesis said, still trying to poke Sephiroth's buttons. "Hojo-head."

Sephiroth stopped skating and aimed a kick at Genesis. Genesis squealed and tried skating away from Sephiroth. Sephiroth began quickly skating after Genesis, who kept shrieked as if he were being tortured.

"HELP HEEELLLP! MURDER!" Screamed Genesis, hotly pursued by Sephiroth.

Sephiroth grabbed Genesis and slammed him into the wall. Then Sephiroth kicked at Genesis's face. A long cut ran across his check and to his mouth. Blood began to ooze from the cut. Genesis tenderly touched his cut and said, "You just cut my _face_!"

"I'll do it again if I must," Sephiroth said, skating away from Genesis.

"Don't you know what you just did?!" Screamed Genesis angrily.

Sephiroth turned to Genesis and said, "I'll do it again, if you don't shut up, you little titch."

"YOU JUST CUT A FIGURE SKATER'S FACE! AND DON'T CALL ME A _TICH_, STUPID HEAD!" Genesis said, stomping his foot in anger.

Sephiroth glared at Genesis and said, "You look like a titch to me."

"Well you look like a h—" The word 'Hojo' died away on Genesis's tongue. He couldn't afford more cuts.

"Like a…?" Sephiroth dared.

"Like a… hamburger…"

Sephiroth's rare cold smile slithered across his face. "I look… like a hamburger?" Repeated Sephiroth, tasting the strange words.

"Yes…" Genesis said slowly. Then he said more confidently, "You look exactly like a hamburger."

"Then you look like a sour rotten hamburger, with sauerkraut and pickles. With a dash of mustard," Mused Sephiroth.

Genesis glared at Sephiroth. "I don't like mustard. Or sauerkraut. Or Pickles…"

"Exactly."

"Hate you."

"Me too."

"You hate yourself?"

"No, I hate you. Use your brain, brat."

"Let's practice!" Genesis said, forgetting about his oozing cut.

Sephiroth raised an eyebrow. "I don't want to figure skate…"

Genesis began to gracefully glide around. He elaborately jumped into the air and said, "Not want to figure skate? Tut, how can you _refuse_ figure skating?!"

Sephiroth said nothing.

Genesis continued, "Figure skating is an art! Figure skating is a piece of… of… happiness and joy and—" Genesis fell on his behind.

Sephiroth snickered a little. Genesis smiled a little. He'd made the Silver General snicker. Depending on his mood (he was in a good mood at the moment) he liked being the class clown and at other times he hated being laughed at. Most of the time: he hated being laughed at.

Genesis made a weird face and pretended to fall again. Except he actually lost balance and fell again on his behind.

Sephiroth was giving Genesis an amused looked. Genesis grinned impishly and fell again on purpose. Boy, it would be totally embarrassing if someone snapped a picture of the two looking like morons.

Something flashed, and Genesis quickly turned around to see if it was lightening. Sephiroth stopped smiling and said, "What was that?"

Genesis looked around suspiciously and said, "I don't know… I've got a baaad feeling about this…"

"_It's a trap_…" Sephiroth joked. A smile formed on his mouth, as he was obviously pleased with the inside joke.

Genesis snorted with laughter. Sephiroth was _laughing_ and _joking_ with him?! Genesis never thought the day would come when Sephiroth quoted Star Wars.

There! Another flash of light! Genesis whirled around and slipped, falling on his behind again. Sephiroth's eyebrows knitted together, as he helped Genesis up.

Genesis grimaced and said, "That flash looked an awful lot like a…"

"Camera…" Finished Sephiroth. His eyes narrowed and his cold atmosphere returned. He skated a little away from Genesis, as if Genesis was giving him bad luck.

Genesis remembered what Sephiroth had done to him with his costume. He turned sharply on Sephiroth and snarled, "If you hadn't dyed my costume, none of this would have happened!"

Sephiroth's cold face didn't loosen up. He curled lip and growled a little. "I believe I got you the lotion…"

Sephiroth stomped off, and took off his shoes.

"Where are _you_ going?!" Genesis snarled, angrily trailing after him.

Sephiroth quickly packed up and said, "I'm off to hunt the photographer."

* * *

Aerith hung her head a little, "So you're not scared?"

Zack shrugged and said, "I'm scared for my team, but not ants-pants-scared."

Aerith laughed and said, "Ants-pants-scared? You come up with awesome names!"

Zack glanced at his PHS and said, "They're supposed to be starting!"

Aerith replied soothingly, "Just calm down. Maybe Team Zack is having this awesome comeback plan!"

Zack smiled a bittersweet smile. "I don't think so, Aerith."

Just then, everyone began to wildly cheer and shout. Aerith struggled to look over the other people. She saw the hockey players come out on ice. Half the players were wearing green and the other yellow.

Caught up in the excitement, Aerith shouted, "GO TEAM GREEN!"

Zack clapped a hand over Aerith's mouth and whispered in her ear, "Aerith, we're sitting on the opposite side!"

Aerith looked around at the people surrounding her and Zack. They were giving her evil eyes and she noticed that a lot of the people on this side were wearing something yellow.

Aerith blushed scarlet and tried sinking deep into the bleachers. Well that was awkward.

The game was an exciting game. Hockey sticks swung back and forth wildly and the puck shot around everywhere. This game appeared to be the most intense game ever. There was tension in the crowd. Everyone seemed too busy watching to clap or scream when someone got a goal.

Aerith gripped Zack's hands and barely dared to breathe. Zack began to squirm a little. He was incredibly intense. His eye twitched constantly and ants began to slowly crawl up his pants.

The puck went flying back and forth, like a bug constantly moving around, trying to find a place to land. The hockey players did their part of whamming into each other, passing the puck around, and the goalies did their jobs at stopping the puck from entering into the goal.

At the moment, Green Team had five points and Yellow Team had seven points.

Just then, a yellow person slammed a green person into the wall. Normally, it would have been fine, except the yellow person had Mako blood running like wild fire through his veins, so the impact was worse. The plastic screen wobbled and threatened to give way under the impact.

The green person slowly got up, but the yellow person pushed him back down and jumped on him. Both blades punctured the protection of the outfit and gouged the unprotected back. Before the whistle could blow or the poor green man could utter a scream, the yellow man jumped one last time, making a loud crack as the spine crumpled under the pressure of the SOLDIER.

The man let out a shriek that stopped the game. The puck slammed into the plastic screen and fell unnoticed to the floor.

Everyone stared at the man on the ground, blood spilling to the floor. His back was oddly twisted in agony and his face was pale and beads of sweat trickled down his nose.

Angeal rushed over to his friend and bent down. He whispered something to his teammate, but the man only uttered a moan of anguish. Angeal shouted, "I NEED THE MEDICS!"

The frozen tension was shattered by medics bursting into the scene. Two men carried a stretcher and others carried First-Aid kits.

One of the doctors touched gingerly at the back, and the man screamed again.

A coach ran in and shouted, "DISQUALIFIED!" He pointed an accusing finger at the bewildered yellow person. The yellow person was all shaky, he hadn't appeared to realize what happen until the green man let out a bloody cry of pain. He seemed to be completely stunned and looked rather spacy, as he followed the coach out of the rink.

Aerith hid her face behind Zack as the gruesome task transferring the man to the stretcher began. The man constantly let out screams of pain, as two men gingerly picked him up and laid him on the stretcher. Then the medics slowly marched out of the ice rink. A couple medics stayed behind to clean up the blood.

"Ohhh Shiva…" Zack muttered under his breath.

Aerith refused to look at the rink. "What?" She asked, her voice shaky and almost in a whisper.

Zack didn't say anything at first, but then he said, "I… I'm the substitute player…" After watching that horror scene, Zack decided he didn't want to play hockey anymore.

Aerith clutched at Zack and said, "Don't goooo!" A tear began to weld up in the corner of her eye. She was acting like a little cry-baby, but after seeing what happened to the hockey player, she deserved to be a cry-baby. Was hockey usually this violent?

Zack gently removed himself from Aerith's grasps and said soothingly, "Hey, Aerith, remember when we talked about that melodramatic movie about a boy loving a sport but not getting to play it?"

"Yeah but you said it wouldn't happen," Aerith said stubbornly.

"Don't you want me to be a hero?" Zack asked Aerith.

"No not really…"

"Why not?" Protested Zack.

Aerith managed a smile. "Because I don't want you to be like that arrogant First Class redhead."

Zack chuckled and gave Aerith a hug. "I'll be fine!"

Genesis was watching this whole affair from the green side of the team. To support his friend Angeal, he wore a swanky green shirt with a green bandanna tied on his arm. Genesis couldn't _believe_ that the little wimp had just gotten beat up by a yellow dude! C'mon! Yellow Team was Team Nobody! Nobody cared a darn for Team Nobody! Chocobo Team was weak and stupid! Yellow Team was the Yellowbellied Coward Team!

Genesis turned in disgust. Really. How could Green Team act so wimpy up against Team Nobody?! Where was their pride? Their dignity?

The commentary person said, "It's up to Zack Fair, Second Class SOLDIER, to fight for Green Team! Is he the new hero?! Will he be the hero?!"

Genesis's radar ears picked up the word 'hero'. "Zack Fair… _a hero_?!" Genesis laughed so hard, everyone turned to glare at him.

"Can Kyle Andreas fend off Green Team?!" Said the dramatic commentary.

Genesis perked up. Kyle Andreas? Oh him. The Great Strategist dude who was obsessed with the words 'you wanna know why'. Genesis hated Kyle. Kyle was so boring and laid back. All Kyle cared about was:

1. Strategies

2. Drooling

3. Drawing

4. You wanna know why

5. And being a lazy idiot

Genesis hated that doofus. How Kyle made it to First, Genesis wasn't sure. All Genesis knew was that Kyle was slow and boring. That dude never even to bother shaving off his facial fungus!

Genesis sneered as Kyle Andreas and Zack Fair skated into the rink.

Zack and Kyle both took their positions and the game started again. Hockey sticks waved a round once more and the buck went back to flying around. Now everyone was ten times as nervous. Aerith knew something bad like that wouldn't happen again, but she was still wired up about the whole ordeal. She constantly covered her hands over her eyes and looked away.

Zack seemed to be doing great and seemed perfectly comfortable on ice. Kyle on the other hand, was not having as much luck as Zack was. He was rather slugging and didn't seem to quite comfortable on the ice.

The game was now 10-7 with Green Team in the lead.

The yellow fans all had despairing looks on their faces. The hockey puck went flying into the goal of the yellow side. The yellow goalie keeper wasn't able to stop the puck from sailing into the net.

It was 11-7. Only a few minutes remained of the game.

The puck went sailing to the Green Team side, but right as it was going to go into the net, the goalie stopped the puck.

Wild cheers rang from green team.

The puck went back to flying in the air.

Only one minute remained of the game. Green Team was going to win.

Zack saw the puck coming his way. He was close to the yellow goal, and decided to do something really impulsive. Since they were already winning, and there was now thirty seconds left of the whole entire game, he felt like shooting the puck into the goal.

Twenty seconds left.

Zack saw the puck land close to him. He skated over to it and wildly shot it in the direction of the goal. The goalie keeper was sure to stop it.

Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, th—"_GOAL_!"

Zack's mouth dropped open as he felt to the floor. Did… he… just give Team Aerith one last point at the eleventh hour…?!

Joy exploded within Zack as he raised his hockey stick in the air and waved it around wildly. He roared with laughter as his teammates embraced him and ran into him, slapping him hard on the back.

"The game is 12-7! Team Green has _won_!" The ref shouted over the screams and cheers of the crowd.

Zack glanced up to see how Aerith was doing. Aerith was laughing and wiping away tears. She waved vigorously at Zack and Zack managed to wave back to Aerith.

"AND THERE IS OUR NEW HERO! ZACK FAIR, HERO OF HOCKEY!" Shouted the Commentary dude.

Genesis was sulking a little. He was glad that Green Team had won, but annoyed that Zack was a 'hero'. Zack did very little to be a hero. Genesis could understand if Zack had saved them at the very last minute, but Green Team had already won without Zack. All Zack did was get one last goal in. It just wasn't fair.

Once Zack was finally done being mobbed by his teammates and mobbed by the green fans, Zack went to Aerith.

"Wanna get ice cream?" Zack asked Aerith.

Aerith beamed and said, "That sounds great! We should get green coloured ice cream! But you should probably change first."

Zack nodded and said, "Okay. Stay close to Angeal until I come back. The fans are going ballistic."

"What about me?" Angeal said, striding up to his young bouncing friend.

Zack turned and said, "Aerith is going to stay with you until I return from changing."

Angeal shrugged and said, "Okay, when will you be done? I kinda want to change myself."

Zack darted away and replied, "Soon!"

"Whoa, that was a great game! You guys did awesome!" Aerith said beaming.

Angeal smiled and said, "I'm glad you liked it."

"Angeal!" Said a voice.

Angeal turned around to see his fiery redhead friend. "Yo, Genesis."

"Oh, who is this young lady?" Genesis asked a little flirtatiously.

"Um, Gen, you probably shouldn't flirt with Aerith…" Warned Angeal.

"Oh," Genesis said. He squinted his eyes a little. It was a little dark in the room and the lights were very poor. The rest of the SOLDIERs were in this room to get away from the mob of fans. But you could still hear the fans yelling and trying to get into the room.

Aerith glared at Genesis and crossed her arms.

"Fierce little shrew…" Commented Genesis.

"I never said anything," Aerith said airily. "It's not very logical to call me a shrew when all I was doing was glaring at you."

"But you just spoke," Genesis said.

Genesis smirked triumphantly at her. Aerith glared at Genesis. She hated that little smirk of his.

"Uh, Genesis, I said stop flirting with Aerith," Angeal said to Genesis.

Genesis said indignantly, "I wasn't flirting!"

"Uh-huh. You were doing that smirk of yours. If you're not careful, you'll get Zack on your tail trying to kill you," Angeal said, still trying to warn Genesis.

Genesis blew out a sigh of annoyance. "Whatever. Hey, Angeal, congrats on winning."

Zack sprinted out of the dressing room and said, "I'm done! Oh, hi, Gen. What are you doing here?"

Genesis turned and said, "Yo, squirt"

Zack grabbed Aerith's hand and said, "Let's go get ice cream!"

Aerith turned and gave Genesis a 'haha, I'm Zack's, not yours' smirk. Genesis raised an eyebrow. That girl was weird.

Zack and Aerith decided to sit inside with their ice cream. Usually they ate outside, but tonight was a cold and windy night. Two good reasons why you shouldn't eat outside.

Aerith was enjoying her pistachio ice cream and Zack was enjoying his mint ice cream.

"Ice cream tastes _good_ after playing hockey!" Zack commented with wide eyes.

Aerith laugh and said, "Even though it's cold outside and your ice cream is cold?"

The two of them were in the back of the ice cream parlor to avoid fans. They kept warm by sitting close to each other.

"I guess you really were the hero!" Aerith said.

Zack grinned bashfully and said, "Well I don't know about that…!"

"Oh c'mon! The people were calling you hero! And it was _hilarious _to watch Mr. Rhapsodos writhe in anger!" Aerith laughed.

Zack stopped eating and said, "Oh yeah, that guy is obsessed with trying to be the hero. Well I guess I took his spot." Zack smiled at the thought of Genesis being jealous of him. Little did Zack know that Genesis was jealous of a lot of what Zack had. The height, the muscles, being the hero, having the girl friend, etc.

Aerith patted Zack's head, as if he were a puppy.

Suddenly the two of them went quite. In front of them, two SOLDIERs with yellow armbands sat down. Zack recognized them two. Kyle Andreas and Titus Krake. Zack intently listened to what they were talking about.

"It's the only idea left!" Titus stated.

Kyle replied lazily back, "Oh. So you want to talk about cheating. So much for the treat…"

Titus ignored his master and said, "Listen, Andreas. We can cheat and make it seem like we didn't."

"I like blackberry ice cream. You wanna know why? When I lick it, it reminds me of my mommy's homemade blackberry cobbler," Kyle said, likewise ignoring his apprentice.

"You… like… what the heck?" Titus said in a weird voice.

Kyle said back, "All mommies should make blackberry cobbler."

Titus cleared his throat, clearly awkward and embarrassed about the ice cream situation. "Anyway, as I was saying. We have to cheat. It's our only way of winning. You're so awesome and your mind is so amazing!"

"You're really weird."

"I—wait… what?!"

"Ever since I took you in as my apprentice, you've been praising me constantly. It gets a little sickening after a while. You wanna know why?" Kyle said in his melancholy voice.

"Why?" Titus asked, genuinely curious.

"Because when you praise me, my head gets bigger. And when my head gets bigger, my head can't fit in anymore praises. You wanna know why I'm so lazy and depressed? It's because I was addicted to praise. But now that my head is too big for praise, praise doesn't make me happy. When someone praises me, it doesn't put me in a good mood. It's annoying and sickening. So why don't you just shut your mouth full of crap, and leave me alone?" Kyle said. He was angry and annoyed. It was hard to see the First getting angry, especially since he was so layed back most of the time.

Never underestimate the lazy First Class SOLDIERs. They show anger in a totally diffident way.

Titus didn't say anything.

Aerith shrank into her seat and tried to melt away. She hated angry SOLDIERs. Infact, she didn't trust SOLDIERs in general. The only two SOLDIERs she trusted were Angeal and Zack. And she really only trusted Angeal because Zack trusted Angeal.

"Well… will you consider cheating?" Titus asked quietly.

"Nope," Kyle said without hesitation.

Titus replied back, "And why not?"

"Because cheating is for people without hope."

"You're pretty hopeless yourself…"

"No I'm not."

"Yes you are…"

"Nu-huh."

"But you are!" Protested Titus.

Kyle sighed and said back, "Don't argue with me. I'm not hopeless. Cheating is for small people who are helpless and can't believe in themselves."

"You sound like a Disney person saying 'believe in yourself'…" Pouted Titus.

Zack could see Kyle's shrugging. "You never see peregrine falcons backing away. You never see jumping spiders cheat."

Titus said blankly, "Um, Andreas, it's their instinct to keep themselves alive. If they didn't eat those things, they'd die."

"Maybe it's our instinct _not_ to cheat? Maybe it's our instinct to go with the flow. Or does your widdle numbskull thing-of-a-brain not understand? " Kyle suggested.

Titus pounded his fist on the table and said aggravated, "But it's our instinct to win no matter the cost! _Besides_! You sound so hippy saying 'go with the flow'!"

Kyle stood up and stretched. Zack and Aerith both quickly looked down and tried sinking further into the booth. "Don't be a wuss, moron. It's just a _game_. I'm getting more blackberry ice cream," Kyle walked off.

Titus sighed and stood up too. He was leaving. It was obvious no more persuasion could be done. He walked off.

Aerith was about to sit up properly, but Zack pushed her down. "Kyle might come back!" Aerith quickly sank back down.

Kyle did come back, and this time he spotted Zack and Aerith. He looked a little surprised, but he walked over and said, "Why are you guys hiding?"

Aerith and Zack both blushed and guiltily looked at each other. Kyle sighed and said, "Oh. I see," He slid in the opposite booth, without being asked. "I'm sorry you guys had to listen to our conversation."

Zack straightened up again, but Aerith remained low.

"So… you're not going to cheat?" Zack asked carefully.

Kyle ran his fingers through his hair. "Hopefully not. I'm not sure if Titus will go around asking people to cheat. No doubt he will… pity, I bought him more ice cream."

Kyle glanced at the ice cream bowl full of ice cream and whipped cream and sprinkles. He began to mournfully eat his berry ice cream, as if it was a sand-cone instead of ice cream. Kyle let out a sigh. "That rascal thinks that cheating is the only way to win. What an idiot. By the way," Kyle said, looking at Zack. "Congrats about being the hero."

Zack blinked and smiled a shy smile. "Wellll I wasn't really the hero… I just got Green Team one last point."

Kyle smiled a little and said, "Rhapsodos would have _killed_ for that title."

Aerith giggled and said, "Mr. Rhapsodos has got to be throwing a hissy fit!"

Kyle chuckled at the idea of Genesis throwing a hissy fit. "I bet Mr. Rhapsodos will be fine!"

* * *

Mr. Rhapsodos was not fine. Infact, he was the opposite of fine. The morning paper had been delivered to him. On the front of the page was:

**_RHAPSODOS FRATERNIZES WITH BLUE TEAM TO GET INFORMATION!_**

_Genesis Rhapsodos has been seen at the ice rink skating alone with Sephiroth, who is on Blue Team. In this picture (below to the left) Rhapsodos is chatting and laughing with Gold Medalist Sephiroth (speed skating). Is Sephiroth aware of Rhapsodos's evil plan?! Rhapsodos is obviously trying to get Sephiroth's secrets on how to skate well. Poor First Class SOLDIER Sephiroth is being fooled by this redhead! Rhapsodos is remaining loyal to his team, yes, but he is cheating to get information! Should Rhapsodos be disqualified?! Turn next page to see what critics think!_

Genesis burned the paper. Then he gathered up the ashes, and dumped them out of the window onto the passerby's.

Genesis sat down hard on his sofa and thought over the paper. It was all Sephiroth's fault…

This morning was his chance to gain a medal and be called a hero.

In thirty minutes, it would be time for him to leave and go to the ice skating rink.

Genesis stood up and grabbed his new skating costume. This costume was a little too sparkly, but other than that, was cool. Or at least, Genesis thought it looked cool. It was black from the bottom to the waist and from the waist to the neck it was white. The black swirled into the white. His sleaves were white, but near to his hands, they were black gloves. He grinned at it. It had cost a fortune, but it looked… pretty.

Genesis packed up his skates and a water bottle as well as a protein bar. He didn't know why, but it made him feel cool to eat protien bars.

Genesis quickly left and went to the ice rink.

Lately, Geneis hadn't been doing very well in snowboarding. That Chocobo kid had already won a silver and a bronze. Genesis had only one a bronze. Well he was going to win _gold_ in figure skating!

Coach Rim raised and eyebrow when Genesis showed him his outfit. "You're wearing that? You have auburn hair and you're wearing a black and white outift?! It looks _terrible_!" He asked skeptically.

Genesis snarled, "I don't care if you don't like it, you old geezer! I_ like_ it! I had to pick it up at the eleventh hour since Sephiroth ruined my last outfit!"

Coach Rim snorted and laughed. "Good Gaia, Rhapsodos… you never sease to amuse me…"

Genesis's face turned red and he snapped, "What's that supposed to mean?!"

"It means you're an idiot, idiot," Rim said. Then he said, "Guess who has the most medals?"

Genesis began to jump up and down. "Who?! Who?! Who?!"

Coach Rim smiled. "Green Team."

Genesis's face slackened. "I hate you."

Rim shrugged and replied back, "If I try pushing you to do better, you gripe at me. If I don't push you, you gripe at me. Good grief."

Genesis crossed his arms and slumped to the floor. "I'll win gold."

"You better, you moron. Make our team proud."

Genesis growled deeply and laced up his shoes. "I'm going to practice!"

"Good."

"And I'm not going to fail!"

"Good."

"And I'll make our team sucker Green Team!"

"Good."

"And I'll be the hero of the Goddess!"

"Dang."

"And I'll—what do you mean 'dang'?!" Genesis snapped indignantly.

Coach Rim rolled his eyes and said, "You're doing your weird Loveless thing again."

"I beg your pardon?!" Genesis said.

"Just go," Coach Rim sighed.

Genesis walked out onto the ice and began to practice. It was a little hard to concentrate. Before he got too enthusiastic about skating, he was pulled out because people started filling the stadium.

Genesis was sent to the dressing room, as other skaters started to skate. He got into his costume and applied guy-liner.

Then Genesis took out his protein bar and munched on it, waiting for his turn. He would be the last dancer. Genesis hated being last. He would start getting ants in his pants. And he hated being like Zack.

Genesis sat down on a chair and put his feet up on the table. He accidentally knocked over the guy-liner, but he didn't bother picking it up. He munched on the bar until he felt like he couldn't eat anymore.

"Gen, you're up!" A voice called.

Genesis stood up a little too eagerly, because he knocked over the chair and fell over. He quickly got up and left the room.

"Ready?" Coach Rim asked.

Genesis nodded. He was ready.

MarySue and Rico were up on their usual spots. Rico called out, "And here's our last dancer of the night!"

"Did you _see_ the newspaper about Rhapsodos?!" MarySue asked in loud voice.

Rico nodded seriously. "We don't know what Rhapsodos was up to, but we think he was gaining information about Blue Team!"

MarySue cleared her throat and said, "And Rhapsodos dances to Road to Glory, by Kokia!"

As the music started, Genesis began to dramatically move his body around. "Rhapsodos is the youngest one competing… he does the triple spin perfectly! He's so smooth and calm! Apparently, he told his coach he hated going last. And of course, his coach made him go last on purpose! His coach is named Eric Rim, and he's coached several other skaters before. Normally, he coaches younger kids, but knows how to coach older people too. Coach Rim was nominated best figure skater teach of the year back in 2011. He has a degree in choreography, I believe!" Rico said through his mic.

MarySue nodded and replied smoothly, "Yes he does, Rico. Rhapsodos's hard work really his paying off. He's so clean and elegant! Look how he bends his back! This is truly the most gorgeous image ever! Can you believe how beautiful he looks?"

"He looks very stunning indeed. However, I'm not so fond of his outfit. I do not like the auburn hair and then the black/white outfit. What do you think, MarySue?"

MarySue hushed him quickly and said scornfully, "Leave the man alone. I think he looks gorgeous and sexy. And I think his fans think so too."

Rico crowed with laughter. MarySue was in her late forties and Rhapsodos was in his late teens. Do all women find this young SOLDIER attractive? MarySue gave Rico an irritated look and put her finger to her lip.

"MarySue, you must remember that Rhapsodos probably already has a girlfriend…" Rico said, trying to save the woman who was falling head over heel for this redhead.

"Of course he hasn't got a girlfriend. Supposedly Zack Fair (substitute hockey player) is the only one with a girlfriend. His sweetheart's name is Aerith, I believe," MarySue said. She seemed more interested in Genesis skating, than Zack and Aerith.

Rico raised an eyebrow. He seemed more interested in watching MarySue google over Genesis, than Genesis skating. "Right…" Rico said quietly, trying to puzzle out why women found that little arrogant redhead attractive.

MarySue rested her head on her hands and sighed dreamily. "Oh he is just so hot…"

Rico scotched away from MarySue. "Um," Rico said awkwardly. "Yes! Well… there's Rhapsodos doing his last spin!"

"It's like watching someone skate on butter. You can believe so easily that he's doing it effortlessly… look how emotional he is about his dance!" MarySue gushed on. She sighed again and clasped her hands together.

Genesis waved his hands around in the air and skated on one foot. He leaned over and held his leg over his head. After that, Genesis dramatically arched his back backwards. At the climax of the music, Genesis uttered a single word, "Firaga."

Genesis made a firebird out of fire that flew around the stadium. Everyone ooed and awed as the bird sent sparks everywhere. Then Genesis made a fire dragon that chased the bird and danced with the bird. At the end of that, he sent up fireballs into the cold air. The fire balls dropped to the ground around Genesis. Genesis bowed dramatically. There was one problem with fireballs inside the rink… the fireballs melted the ice…

As the dragon and firebird died away, the ice rink was left with eight burnt holes. Genesis blinked awkwardly. Everyone went quiet.

"Eh…" Rico said awkwardly.

MarySue squirmed in her seat. She hadn't really expected Genesis to ruin the ice skating rink… "Um… do you think the judges will like what Rhapsodos did?" MarySue said slowly.

"Probably not… there's still once last speed skating race…" Rico said, his voice dry. He couldn't believe Rhapsodos had ruined the rink. What an idiot.

Genesis awkwardly skated to the entrance out of the rink. Coach Rim glared at him. Genesis grinned shyly, but Rim aimed a kick at Genesis's behind.

"Um, now we are awaiting scores…" MarySue said.

Genesis and Rim sat down and waited. Everyone wasn't sure what to do or what to think. Nobody had ever thought of sending fireballs up into air. Would the judges deduct points for having other distractions? Would they like the fireballs? Genesis's eye began to twitch a little.

"And the score is…" Said a judge. "102.54… which is a total of 85.38… 187.92!"

MarySue shouted over the wild crowd, "And that means Rhapsodos gets the gold! It seems like he didn't do very well _this_ go round, but he did well enough last time to make up for tonight's game!"

Fan girls began to cry and shriek. Genesis looked up at his fans and waved to them. They pretty much shrieked down the house.

"Genesis ought to be careful! Dying by Fan girl is a _very_ dangerous case!" Rico said seriously.

MarySue replied back, "Why don't you explain what dying by Fan girl is, Rico."

Rico nodded and said dramatically, "Certainly, MarySue. Dying by Fan girl is a very common disease in ShinRa. Basically, a SOLDIER can have a bunch of fan girls. If he chooses to give them attention and flirts with them, his life and soul will be slowly sucked out of him by his fan girls. If Rhapsodos chooses to pay attention to his fans, he might be getting this disease. Some compare this disease with the Dementor's Kiss, from Harry Potter. I myself, believe that the Dementors and the fan girls are related to each other somehow. Fan girls are like the female version of a Dementor."

MarySue said, "If you have this disease, the best way to cure it is… get a girlfriend, get your mom to help you run them off, tell them how gross a bachelor is when he lives alone, and that you only shower once a week. If those don't help, you might want to get some cancelling."

Genesis gave his coach a hug. He flexed his muscles and said, "That was awesome, right coach?!"

Coach Rim smiled mischievously and said, "You're going to have to pay for ruining the rink."

The smile on Genesis's face sagged a little. "B-but…"

Coach Rim smirked and said, "That's what you get for showing off to the ladies."

Genesis pouted. "I wasn't showing off…"

Rim gave Genesis an 'uh-huh' look. He marched off and went to talk to another coach. Genesis slumped to the floor and sulked.

Sephiroth came from nowhere and said, "Nice going, Rhapsodos."

Genesis replied childishly, "About the ice rink or the gold medal ?"

"Both," Sephiroth said simply.

Genesis jutted his bottom lip out and snapped, "Now the old geezer is making me pay for repair…!"

Sephiroth shrugged and said, "So? You won gold, didn't you?"

Genesis shrugged and turned sharply away from Sephiroth. "Go away," Genesis mumbled.

Sephiroth raised an eyebrow and left the redhead to sulk over his day.

* * *

There were two days left of the Olympics. The last day, nobody was going to do anything, they'd just have the closing ceremony and tell who had won the most medals.

Genesis had paid for the repair of the ice rink ($1,998.98 plus tax) and had pretty much gotten over the whole ordeal of paying that much. Infact Genesis was in a great mood.

It had turned out that he hadn't really done that well in the ice skating games, but MarySue had hacked the computers to make sure he got the highest score, therefore winning the gold medal. Luckily the judges didn't take away his gold medal. But MarySue was off to jail for rigging the Olympic computers.

Genesis had nearly shrieked with joy when he saw the newspaper wasn't about how terrible he was, but how terrible MarySue was. To make it a plus, everyone now felt sorry for Genesis. They figured MarySue had been favouring Team Red this whole time. So now everyone thought MarySue had been behind threatening Genesis to do stuff. She _thought_ if Genesis was seen with Sephiroth, that it would look like Sephiroth was trying to get information from Genesis, not the other way round.

Genesis's name was cleared.

Genesis didn't know who had cleared his name, but he felt like kissing the person who cleared his name.

There was a frantic _bang bang bang_ on Genesis's door.

Genesis quickly opened his door and said, "Oh. It's you. It's the titch."

Reno had a black eye and several Band-Aids on his face alone. His arm was cast in a sling and he was a little hunched over. Apparently Reno hadn't done very well. Red's hockey team had lost every match. Severin Rolf finally got fed up with it all, and asked Lazard to take Reno out. Lazard granted Severin's wish and replaced Reno. But even then, Red Team's last match, they lost.

Reno raised an eyebrow and cocked his head to the side. "Huh?" He said.

Genesis waved Reno aside and said elegantly, "What do you want little Turkey?"

"Little Turkey?" Reno repeated, his head still cocked to the side, as if he were listening for something. "I don't like turkey…"

Genesis rolled his eyes exuberantly and said, "Will you just stop wasting my time, you titch?!"

"Titch?" Reno repeated, as if he couldn't get his mind wrapped around what Genesis was saying.

Genesis growled and said murderously, "Get on with it, _Reno_, or I'll slice you up!"

Reno lazily scratched his head and said, "I found out who cleared your name."

Genesis jumped a little. "Who?!" He said eagerly.

Reno grinned a wicked grin. "It's going to cost you…"

Genesis's face went red. "Oh-ho?! Is it now, Turkey-head?!" Genesis balled up his fist. "There's no way I'm going to give you _anything_!"

Reno roared with laughter. "Okay. How about twenty questions to guess who this person is?"

"No!"

"Then we'll do cost."

"Fine!" Snarled Genesis. "Is it a guy or a girl?"

"Yo, Gen, it's gotta be a no or yes question," Reno corrected.

"That is a no or yes question," Genesis snapped angrily.

Reno leaned against wall and crossed his arms. "No it ain't."

Genesis thought about slamming the door, but his curiosity got the better of him. "That's two no or yes questions in one question. Now answer up, little Turkey."

Reno spat spitefully back, "Don't call me turkey! I hate turkeys!"

Genesis stomped his foot in frustration like a little toddler. "Will you just answer my question, Reno?!"

Reno snorted and said, "That's better. Um… Yes and no."

"What?" Genesis said, scrunching up his face.

"I said yes and no."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YES AND NO, NUMBSKULL?!"

"I answered your double question! Yes and no!" Replied Reno, holding his arms up in defense. "By the way, yo, that's two questions."

Genesis thought about it and then snarled, "No it isn't!"

Reno groaned, "Gaia, Gen, do you not know how to play this game?"

Genesis slammed his knuckles into the wall and said through clinched teeth, "It's _one_ question!"

Reno replied stubbornly, "You asked 'is it a guy or a girl'. And you say that's two questions."

"TWO QUESTIONS IN _ONE_!" Genesis bellowed out. He was beginning to hate this game.

"That's still two questions," Reno said impatiently. Gaia, was Genesis usually this difficult to deal with?

"_FINE_! Now answer my _two_ questions!"

"But I did."

"No you didn't. Answer them."

"I told you already. You were too busy screaming about how it was one question," Reno said, glaring at Genesis.

Genesis lunged at Reno and grabbed ahold of his windpipe. "Tell me or I'll _strangle_ you!"

Reno gasped for air. "I said: yes and no!"

Genesis let go of Reno's windpipe and brushed his long bangs aside. "Good, little Turk. Is he tall?"

Reno nodded vigorously.

All the sudden, Genesis remembered what he thought. He felt like kissing the person who cleared his name. Well. That was awkward. Never mind that, he could man-hug the guy who cleared his name.

"Um… let me think… so it's a guy and he's tall. Does he have black hair or blonde or red?"

Reno slumped and sighed heavily. "Shiva… that's three questions, you know that right?"

"No, that's _one_ question. It's one question because it's the topic of the person's hair," Genesis said logically. Or not so logically.

Reno rolled his eyes and slumped to the floor. This idea wasn't near as fun as he thought it would be. "No, no, no…"

Genesis grew red in the face and said, "That's not answering my question. Will you _try_ and work with me?!"

Reno tiredly replied, "I answered your question, Gen. No, no, and no."

"Oh," Genesis said simply. He too sat down and thought about the whole ordeal very hard. "Is he a First, Second or Third?"

Reno gave Genesis a disgusted look. "You really don't know how to play this game, do you?"

"Answer," Genesis demanded.

"Yes, no and no. Okay, that's…" Reno quickly counted his fingers. "That's the seventh question. That means. Um… thirteen questions left. Or maybe it was the eighth question…"

Genesis thought hard. "He's a first… he's tall… he's a guy… and he doesn't have any hair…"

Reno looked startled and said, "Wait, I never said he didn't have hair."

"You said he didn't have black, blonde or red hair," Genesis recalled.

"Yeah but I didn't say he was bald," Protested Reno.

"Moving on… does he have short hair?" Genesis asked quickly, trying to avoid arguments.

"Um… heck no!"

"Then he has to be bald!" Genesis concluded.

"No he doesn't!"

"Well long hair would look _stupid_ and semi-long would look silly. He _has_ to be bald or have short hair!" Genesis snarled peevishly.

"Who has short hair or is bald?" Said Sephiroth, coming around a corner.

Genesis looked up and said eagerly, "Reno and I are playing twenty questions to guess who cleared my name. Wanna help?"

Sephiroth gave Genesis an amused smile. "Twenty questions to guess who cleared you name?" Repeated Sephiroth with a hint of mischief.

Genesis looked very serious. Sephiroth plopped down next to Genesis. Genesis should have realized that Sephiroth was acting out of character. But Genesis was too busy finding the person who cleared his name.

"So far this dude is… a First Class, a guy, tall and is bald?"

Sephiroth's eyebrows boinged up and he said, "Bald?"

Genesis nodded very seriously. "Does this person… have a scary face?"

Reno glanced at Sephiroth, who raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Um. Yeah. Very scary face," Reno said, still looking at Sephiroth.

The words sank into Genesis's mind. "Hmm… was it Severin?"

"Yo, Rolf is shorter than me, Gen," Reno said slowly.

"Right right right… I forgot our man was tall… hmm… what's his sword's name?" Asked Genesis curiously. Surely that was a yes or no question.

"Um, okay, that _really_ isn't a yes or no question," Reno said.

Genesis frowned hard. "If he isn't bald… and doesn't have short hair… _does_ he have _long_ hair?" Genesis asked slowly.

Reno blinked and glanced again at Sephiroth.

"Hey," Genesis said, poking Reno. "Stop looking at Sephiroth. Concentrate on answering the questions."

"Ummmm… yupppp… he's got long hair," Reno replied reluctantly.

Genesis blinked and raised his head. "But long hair looks so _stupid_ and _ugly_!" Genesis snapped.

Reno cowered away and glanced at Sephiroth again. But Sephiroth still had the amused look on his face. Genesis seemed to forget that Sephiroth was sitting next to him. Reno clawed at his face, waiting for Sephiroth to blow up.

"Hmmm… oh Gaia… oh Shiva…" Genesis slowly turned his head to Sephiroth and let out a shriek.

Sephiroth flinched and said angrily, "Don't scream in my ear, Rhapsodos!"

"_You cleared my name_?!" Genesis said his eyes wide with horror.

Sephiroth replied back, "I don't get a thank you?"

Genesis demanded, "When did _you_ clear my name?!"

"The press was right. I went after the photographer. I found out it was MarySue taking the pictures. Then I found out about MarySue rigging the computers. I knew you probably were extremely upset about the whole ordeal, so I told the truth to the press. Simple," Sephiroth said dryly.

"EWWW! I DON'T WANT TO GIVE YOU A MAN-HUG!" Shrieked Genesis in terror.

Genesis cowered away from Sephiroth, as if Sephiroth had some kind of disease.

Sephiroth raised an eyebrow and said in disgust, "Why would you give me a… 'man-hug'?"

Genesis glared at Sephiroth and snarled deeply, "Forget it!" He quickly got up and ran away from Sephiroth and Reno.

* * *

Zack rocked back and forth, hugging his knees.

His team had lost.

The hockey game was really close, 9-11, with Team Chocobo in the lead. But… Team Aerith still lost… they were so close to getting gold. Zack stood up from sulking and walked out of the hockey rink. He needed a talk with Kyle.

Zack banged on Kyle's door.

"Come in!" Kyle's voice rang from inside the room.

Zack opened the door.

Kyle was talking to Artemis Audrey and Titus Krake. Zack gave Titus an uneasy look.

Kyle seemed to automatically understand why Zack was here. Kyle turned to Titus and said, "Would you excuse me, gentlemen?" Kyle stood up and marched out with Zack.

"How can I help you, Zack?" Kyle asked.

Zack took a deep breath and said, "Did you cheat?"

Kyle raised an eyebrow and said, "Do you think we did?"

Zack shrugged a little. A lump began to form in his throat. "Dunno," He mumbled. He wanted to say, 'it would be nice to believe you didn't' but the lump in his throat was a little too big.

"No we didn't. I made Titus promise not to talk about cheating," Kyle said reassuringly.

"How did you do that?" Zack asked in awe.

Kyle laughed. "I am his master. He listens to me, even when he is being an idiot," Kyle sighed. He smiled and thought about his young apprentice.

Zack bowed his head and thought about the game. He was allowed to play, since the other man didn't want to. Kyle also had to play in the game. The other man was still disqualified.

Kyle said quietly, "You played well, Fair."

"You too," Zack said returning the compliment.

Kyle laughed a little and said, "I didn't play very well. All I did was stay out of the way."

"Are you sad that the games are over?" Zack asked Kyle.

Kyle shook his head. "Not really. I like my other work a lot better. How about you?"

Zack shrugged. He didn't if he missed the games or not. It was a little too early to tell. "Tomorrow we'll see who has the most medals," Zack said eagerly. "I wonder what the big prize is."

Kyle thought about it. "Nothing too serious, if anything."

"Can't wait till tomorrow," Zack said dreaming of tomorrow.

* * *

"Okay, you guys need to line up by your colours again. Position yourself in rows of ten. The first colour to be called is the person who got the most medals. Then second will have the second most medals. Then down the line. Got it?" Sais Lazard's secretary.

Everyone began to automatically trample one another to get in their places. Teams taunted one another, saying that they're team was the best. Everyone was wearing their medals they had won from previous in the week.

Genesis was waving around a two gold medals and a bronze. "Team Genesis is going to win!" He said grinning.

Team Genesis's hockey team wasn't looking so happy. They hadn't won a single medal.

Zack may not have won gold, but he was happy to have a metal.

Everyone outside was yelling and screaming with joy and happiness.

"Are you ready?" The secretary said.

Everyone nodded.

From outside, they heard President ShinRa's voice. "Thank you everyone who joined the games and thank you everyone for supporting each team. I am proud to announce that… YELLOW TEAM HAS WON THE MOST MEDALS!"

Yellow Team burst with joy and they ran outside, yelling and roaring.

Everyone else in the tent was stunned. Did they hear it wrong? Did _yellow_ Team win? TEAM NOBODY WON THE OLYMPICS?!

Genesis howled with anger. "TEAM NOBODY WON THE OLYMPICS?! HOW THE HECK DID THAT HAPPEN?!"

The rest of the SOLDIER murmured in agreement. How did they win?

"I am proud to say that… GREEN TEAM HAS WON THE SECOND MOST MEDALS!" President ShinRa said through his mic.

Al the sudden, Green Team burst into shouts like fire crackers. They ran outside to join the Yellow Team.

Fire ranged in Genesis's mind. Surely they would be next.

"I am proud to say that…"

Genesis held his breath.

"BLUE TEAM HAS WON THE THIRD MOST MEDALS!"

Genesis stomped his foot in anger, as Blue Team shouted and roared and jumped around. They were just happy to not be in dead last. How had they lost?! Genesis wanted to sulk. Instead of charging outside, Blue Team strutted out calmly and seriously.

"I am proud to say that… RED TEAM HAS WON THE LEAST MEDALS!" President ShinRa said, except he didn't sound very proud. And there was nothing to be proud about, when you came in dead last.

Red Team came out a little bedraggled like. But the happy Green and Yellow Team gave them lots of joyful hugs and slaps on the back.

Genesis felt a little better. And of course, there was the banquet to look forward to.

But Genesis still couldn't understand how Team Nobody won the Olympics. He guess he was just so wrapped up in trying to win, he didn't notice how the others were doing.

* * *

Zack let the warmth of the sun sink into his face. It was nice not to practice anymore. It was now early spring and everything was starting to bloom. Today was one of those rare warm spring days. The sun was slowly sinking into the horizon and the clouds were etched with gold. The sky was dark blue and the grass a healthy lush colour. Zack layed down, his hands behind his head. It was nice and quiet up on the hill. It would be perfect if Aerith was here to share the day with him.

As if on cue, Aerith came up the hill and said, "Zack!"

Zack sat up to see who called him. When he saw it was Aerith he waved at her.

"Hi!" Aerith said, plopping down next to him on the cool grass.

Zack beamed and said, "Hi!"

"Whatcha doing?" Aerith asked.

Zack layed back down and grinned up at the sky. "I'm enjoying not practicing."

Aerith layed down next to him and said, "Look at the clouds! That looks like a chocobo!" She pointed to a slightly gold cloud in the shape of a chocobo.

Zack laughed and said, "Cloud, Chocobo. Cloud Strife!"

Aerith also laughed and said, "You did great at the Olympics!"

"I'm glad it's over with," Zack said. "I like practicing in the VR room. It's nice to have ShinRa back to normal."

Aerith's face twisted into a mischievous smile. She sat up and said seriously, "Zack, I came to tell you something important."

Zack sat up too and grinned cheekily, "Come to propose to me?"

Aerith laughed and pushed Zack down the hill. Of course, she had to go after him in order to tell him something. Once Zack and Aerith were back on the top of the hill, Aerith said seriously, "Okay, are you going to listen?"

"Okay!" Zack said eagerly.

Aerith still had that mischievous twisted smirk/smile. "Okay, so you know when you go and walk around in Midgar, you'll see these buildings being built up?"

Zack thought about it. There were these new buildings being built in Midgar. He hadn't really noticed or cared for the buildings. They were the sort of things you see, yet don't think about until someone tells you about them.

"Yeah, but Lazard said those buildings are new offices," Zack said, shrugging the idea of the buildings off.

Aerith laughed and said shook her head vigorously, "Those aren't office buildings!"

Zack looked clueless. If not office buildings, what were they for?

Aerith grinned and said, "Do you think that the Olympics are over?"

Zack blinked. "Probably?"

Aerith grinned and shook her head again. She loved keeping Zack in suspense.

"The Olympics aren't over…" Zack said slowly.

Aerith said quietly, "In two years…"

Zack began to grow excited. In two years they'd have another winter Olympics?

Aerith leaned over and whispered in Zack's ear, "In two years ShinRa is having another Olympics. Except it's going to be called: ShinRa's Summer Olympics 2016!"

Zack blinked, his mouth half open. A _SUMMER_ Olympics? Was Lazard _crazy_? "Summer Olympics," Zack said, rolling the words around in his mouth. He liked the taste of it.

Aerith hugged her legs and said, "Yup! Don't tell anyone I told you!"

Zack was barely listening to Aerith. His mind was racing around like wild fire, faster than the speed of light. A summer Olympics… all the sudden, Zack got ants in his pants. And he knew these ants weren't leaving until _after_ the Summer Olympics.

"What are you thinking, SOLDIER?" Aerith chuckled.

Zack snapped out of it. He began to squirm a little. "About," he said slowly. "How Team Aerith is going to win."

**_THE END!_**

* * *

A/N: Who knows what I'll be doing in two years. Joining the Library Force? Traveling with the Doctor? Saving Middle Earth? Saving or bringing down Olympus? Joining the Matrix? Or who knows, maybe I'll end up taking over the world. Ahem—forget about the last thing. You're not supposed to read my evil plans… anyway, for now I need to concentrate on my homework. Heck, when ShinRa's Summer Olympics starts, I'll be doing my last year of Hogwarts! (Tears…) So. I'm not sure if I'll be writing the Summer Olympics down and putting it up on fan fiction. I think it would be fun, but I've got a lot of other things I want to write down. But don't worry, Final Fantasy VII fan fictions are far from done. I have like—three more FFVII fan fics I want to write, and I know I'll probably come up with more ideas too. If I don't write about the Summer Olympics, just pretend that they already happened and the team you want to win, wins. Okay?

Also, I took 19 year old gold medalist Yuzuru Hanyu's outfit from this year's Sochi Olympics and stuck it onto Genesis. Sadly I don't think Genesis looks (at least in my mind) quite as dashing as Yuzuru Hanyu in it, but Genesis needed something flamboyant and sparkly. Yuzuru Hanyu's outfit was a little… um… strange? But it wasn't like Lady Gaga strange, so I was okay with it! And he was Asian, so he could pull it off a lot better than someone like Johnny Weir (Hurrah for us Asians and our Asian swag!).

One last thing—Shaun White is _still_ the King of Snowboarding. And I'm afraid nobody can take his place.

OKAY OKAY! SORRY FOR THE LONG A/N! I GOT JUST A LITTLE BIT CARRIED AWAY!

STAY IN TOUCH, OKAY?!


End file.
